-u 
 
 Class __L_z:^_ii: 
 

A NORMAN SHIP 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 VI. THE TWO ROSES 
 
 VII. THE TWO ROSES {coutifiued) 
 
 VIII. "the end of the king-maker 
 
 IX. WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER 
 
 X. THE TWO PRINCES 
 
 XI. BOSWORTH FIELD 
 
 XII. TRUE OR FALSE? 
 
 XIII. FLODDEN FIELD 
 
 XIV. THE GREAT CARDINAL 
 XV. THE GREAT CHANCELLOR 
 
 XVI. THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN 
 
 XVII. THE RIVAL QUEENS 
 
 XVIII. IN THE WESTERN SEAS 
 
 XIX. THE PERFECT KNIGHT 
 
 XX. THE GREAT ARMADA 
 
 XXI. A FAVOURITE ... 
 
 XXII. SIR WALTER RALEIGH 
 
 XXIII. A LITTLE ROMANCE 
 
 XXIV. KING OR PARLIAMENT? 
 XXV. IN WESTMINSTER HALL 
 
 XXVI. THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL 
 
 FAGE 
 285 
 
 299 
 308 
 
 323 
 
 340 
 347 
 355 
 364 
 370 
 379 
 388 
 
 394 
 403 
 412 
 421 
 427 
 
 439 
 446 
 
 BOOK III. 
 FROM THE LORD PROTECTOR TO QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
 I. THE LORD PROTECTOR ... 
 
 II. THE ROYAL OAK 
 
 III. SOLDIER AND SAILOR 
 
 IV. THE GREAT PLAGUE 
 V. THE GREAT FIRE 
 
 VI. THE DUTCH IN THE MEDWAY 
 
 VII. THE SEVEN BISHOPS 
 
 VIII. LONDONDERRY... 
 
 IX. BLENHEIM AND AFTER ... 
 
 X. GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON 
 
 455 
 464 
 
 473 
 483 
 496 
 
 503 
 508 
 
 515 
 
 525 
 536 
 
viii 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 XI. 
 
 THE '15 
 
 543 
 
 XII. 
 
 THE '45 
 
 • 551 
 
 XIII. 
 
 PLASSEY 
 
 565 
 
 XIV. 
 
 QUEBEC 
 
 573 
 
 XV. 
 
 THE LOST COLONIES 
 
 580 
 
 XVI. 
 
 THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN 
 
 588 
 
 XVII. 
 
 •'the GREATEST SAILOR SINCE THE WORLI 
 
 
 
 BEGAN " 
 
 594 
 
 XVIIL 
 
 FROM LISBON TO THE PYRKNEl'S ... 
 
 603 
 
 XIX. 
 
 WATERLOO 
 
 614 
 
 XX. 
 
 NAVARINO 
 
 621 
 
 XXI. 
 
 "the white north" ... 
 
 628 
 
 XXII. 
 
 THE KHYBER PASS 
 
 635 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 THE LION AND THE BEAR 
 
 644 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 CAWNPORE, LUCKNOW, DELHI 
 
 657 
 
 XXV. 
 
 THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 669 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VII .. 
 
 676 
 
PART I. -^»|f 
 
 UNDER THE R0M4JS[S.^ 
 
iTHE LIBRARY 
 OF CONGRESS 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
CHAPTER 1. 
 
 CAIUS VALERIUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER. 
 {Time, a.d. 85.) 
 
 Caius. It has been a great day at the school, 
 grandfather. The Governor himself came in to see 
 the classes. He heard us recite. Only think ! I 
 was chosen to do it in my class, though there are 
 at least six of the boys who are older than I. 
 
 Grandfather. What was the book, and what 
 was the piece .? But very likely I have never 
 heard it. 
 
 C. Oh yes ! you know it. You have heard me say 
 it again and again. I don't think that there is any 
 piece that I like quite so well. It was the " Shield of 
 Aeneas," out of Virgil. 
 
 G. Well, and how did you get on ? 
 
 C. Fairly well, I hope ; at least the Governor praised 
 me. He said something kind about my manner, and 
 told me that I had caught the true Roman accent. 
 
STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 And when he had gone through all the classes, and 
 we were assembled in the hall, he made a little 
 speech to the teachers and us. He thanked the 
 teachers for their diligence. "You have done all," he 
 said, " that I expected, and 
 more ; though," he went on, 
 turning to us, and smiling, 
 " you have had excellent 
 material to work upon." We 
 clapped our hands vigorously 
 at that, as you may suppose. 
 Then came our turn. " I am 
 glad to see so many of you 
 here," he said. "The first 
 year, and, I think, the second, 
 after this school was opened, 
 I could hardly have found a 
 corporal's guard, and now you 
 would more than make a 
 company. I don't want you 
 to cease to be Britons, but I 
 want to make you Romans. 
 As Romans, you have the 
 whole world before you." 
 
 G. Very fine ! but for my part, if they would have 
 kept their whole world, and left us our little island, I 
 should have been well content. 
 
 11^.^^ 
 
 THE ROMAN GOVERNOR. 
 
CAWS VALERIUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER. 5 
 
 C. But, grandfather, don't you like the Romans, 
 then ? I am sure they have done a great deal for 
 us. The school, for instance. Why, they say that 
 there isn't so fine a school in all Gaul. And the 
 Governor — what a fine fellow he is ! There is nobody 
 like him. 
 
 G. True, my boy, true. Agricola, as they call him, 
 is a fine fellow. He is the very best Roman I ever 
 saw. And his people have done a great deal for us. 
 Baths, theatres, temples, fine houses, fine clothes, and 
 I don't know what else. What a change from things 
 as they were ! Baths indeed ! The rivers and lakes 
 were good enough for us ; as for theatres, we were 
 quite content with the old man who sat in the 
 chimney corner, and sang to his harp ; an oak tree 
 served well enough for a temple ; there wasn't a stone 
 house in the whole island, a chief lived under timber, 
 and mud served a common man's turn ; while for 
 clothes, skins kept us warm, with a shirt of wool in 
 winter. As for the schools, they are, I confess, the 
 best thing they have brought us yet. In old time 
 only the priests knew anything ; now the gate is open. 
 Still, I wish that we in Britain had never seen these 
 strangers from the South. 
 
 C. But, grandfather, this is all very strange. You 
 never talked to me in this way before. 
 
 G. No, my boy, and never shall again. But you 
 
6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 are growing up. You are just about to put on the 
 man's gown, are you not ? 
 
 C, Yes, three days hence. 
 
 G. Then it is about time that you should hear the 
 story of your country. When you were a child, it was 
 of no use to trouble you ; in a few days you will be 
 a man, and ought to have a man's thoughts. Now 
 listen. 
 
 First I must tell you something about your family. 
 Up to this time I have purposely kept you in ignor- 
 ance. Well, you and I are all that are left of it, and 
 I, you must understand, am not your grandfather, 
 as you have been used to call me, but your great- 
 grandfather. Your mother died when you were born, 
 just sixteen years ago ; how her father died you 
 will hear in the course of my story. He, you must 
 know, was my eldest son. Well, I was a man of nine 
 lustres,^ as the Romans put it — and it is, I must own, 
 a convenient way of reckoning — when the Romans 
 first came to our island. 
 
 C. Oh, grandfather, I have always thought that it 
 was many more years than that, far more indeed 
 than the very oldest man in Britain can possibly 
 remember. 
 
 G, True, my boy, you are right in a way ; what I 
 meant was, the first time they came to stay. Of course 
 ^ A " lustre " was a period of five years. 
 
CAIUS VALERIUS AND HIS GRANDFATHER. 7 
 
 the other was long before my time, or any one else's 
 that is now alive. 
 
 C. Yes, it was in Julius Caesar's time, the very first 
 of the Roman emperors, and there have been eleven 
 since him, counting the one who is reigning now. 
 Julius — the " Divine Julius " our teacher calls him — 
 wrote about it. We often have a dictation from his 
 book. 
 
 G. Well, I have often heard the whole story from 
 some one who had to do with it, and that was my 
 grandfather. 
 
 C. And can you remember what he told you ? 
 
 G. Perfectly ; I was about ten years old when he 
 died. He was a very old man, as you may suppose, 
 but quite clear in his mind, and remembering every- 
 thing that had happened in his youth, though he had 
 no memory for things of yesterday. He could not 
 remember, for instance, the name of the slave who 
 waited on him, nor my name. He would tell the 
 same story over and over again, forgetting that he 
 had told it perhaps an hour before. I heard what I 
 am going to tell you I don't know how many times, 
 and as I have got something of the same kind of 
 memory as he had, now that I am old — not so old as 
 he was, though, by ten years at the least — I can almost 
 remember his very words. 
 
STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 
 
 " I WAS just thirty years old," my grandfather said^ 
 " and had been made a captain in the King's body- 
 guard, when we heard that a great number of ships 
 were being collected on the opposite coast. Our 
 people, you know, had come from there not many 
 years before, and there were always a number of 
 people going backwards and forwards between the 
 two countries. The man who brought the news was 
 a trader who used to carry tin from here, and bring 
 back wine and other things that are better in Gaul 
 than they are here. He told us that it was the 
 Roman general who was gathering the ships, that he 
 meant to bring over an army in them, and to conquer 
 the island. We had heard of these Romans for some 
 few years past ; that they had been fighting in Gaul, 
 and had conquered a great part of the country. Some 
 of our young men had gone over and fought on the side 
 of the Gauls. They said that these Romans came 
 from a country that was a long way to the south, that 
 
THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 9 
 
 they were not very strong or big, much shorter in 
 fact than the Britons or Gauls, but wonderfully good 
 fighters, with excellent armour and weapons, and 
 very skilful in using them. The King, when he heard 
 this, held a council, and it was decided that envoys 
 should be sent to the Roman general — Caesar was 
 his name — to ask him what he wanted. They were 
 not only to bring back his answer, but were to find 
 out for themselves a number of things that it was 
 w^ell for us to know, as, for instance, how many 
 soldiers Caesar had with him, and when he was likely 
 to come. The envoys returned in a few days' time. 
 Caesar had told them that the Britons had injured 
 him by helping his enemies in Gaul. This they must 
 not do any more, and, as a pledge that they would 
 not, they must give him hostages and pay tribute. 
 Besides this, they found out for themselves that the 
 Romans expected to find great riches in the island, 
 especially pearls, of which they think very much. 
 Caesar had, they thought, about eight or nine 
 thousand men with him. Other kings in the island 
 had sent envoys who had promised to give what 
 Caesar asked, but our men did not believe that they 
 really intended to do so. A day or two after they 
 came back, we saw a Roman ship sailing along about 
 a mile from the coast. We heard afterwards that 
 one of the Gauls who favoured Caesar was in it, and 
 
lo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 that he had come to find out what he could about us. 
 That, of course, could not have been very much, as 
 he never dared leave his ship. 
 
 "Our King never thought of giving hostages, or 
 paying tribute, so he sent at once to his chiefs, and to 
 the other kings within reach, telling them what he 
 had heard and found out, and asking them for help. 
 Before long, there were many thousands of men — at 
 least three times as many as Caesar had — collected 
 together. Meanwhile, there were men watching along 
 the coast for the first sight of the enemy's ships. 
 It was towards the end of summer when we heard 
 of their coming. Our men were all within easy reach, 
 and before the Romans were within a mile of the 
 shore, all the cliffs were lined with foot-soldiers and 
 horse-soldiers and chariots. Of course they saw that 
 it was of no use trying to land where the cliffs were. 
 They would have been soon destroyed by our darts 
 and stones. So they rowed along looking for a con- 
 venient place, and we followed along the shore. It 
 was not difficult, even for the men on foot, to keep up 
 with them, for the ships were mostly heavy, and the 
 rowers could move them but very slowly. In about 
 an hour and a half's time — it was then nearly noon — 
 they found what they wanted, a place where the shore 
 was low, and there was deep water almost up to the 
 edge. Even then, they found it no easy matter to 
 
THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. i.i 
 
 get to land. We could see them standing on the 
 sides of their ships, while their officers seemed to be 
 urging them to jump in. But they did not know how 
 deep the water was, for it was thick with sand, and 
 then they had their heavy armour on, and they did 
 not like to make the trial, all the less because we 
 were standing ready for them, some on the shore, and 
 others knee-deep in the water. We began to think that 
 there was not much to be afraid of, when, all of a 
 sudden, we found ourselves pelted with such a shower 
 of darts and stones that there was no standing against 
 it. The darts came with a force that no one could 
 possibly put into his throw, and the stones were of 
 such a size — as big as a man's head some of them 
 — that I could not have thrown them twice the 
 length of a spear, and I was able to throw as far 
 as most men in those days. I was knocked over 
 myself, and should have been drowned, being in the 
 water at the time, had not my brother carried me 
 ashore." 
 
 C. Where did the stones come from .'* 
 
 G. From the machines, catapults they call them. 
 You must have seen them. The old man did not 
 know anything about them, when he told the story, 
 nor did any one else in Britain till the Romans came 
 again. But to go on with his story. 
 
 " I came to myself very soon, and then I saw that 
 
12 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 we had all been obliged to get out of reach of the 
 darts and stones. Very soon afterwards, I saw a man 
 with something shining in his hand jump from one 
 of the ships into the water." 
 
 C. Ah ! that must have been the Eagle.^ The 
 
 ROMAN SOLDIERS WITH THE EAGLE. 
 
 extract that was read by the master the other day was 
 about it. " The officer who carried the eagle of the 
 
 ^ Every Roman legion had an eagle. It was a likeness of 
 the bird, with its wings stretched out for flight, and holding a 
 thunderbolt in its claws. It was commonly made of silver, but 
 sometimes of gold, and was mounted on the top of a long pole. 
 
THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 13 
 
 Tenth Legion " — this is what it was — " prayed to the 
 gods that what he was going to do might turn out well 
 for the legion, and said, ' Comrades^ jump dozvn, except 
 you ivant to let the enemy have the eagle ; I at least 
 will do my duty to my country and my general! This 
 he shouted at the top of his voice, and at the same 
 time jumped down into the sea and began to carry 
 the eagle in the direction of the enemy." 
 
 G. Caesar wrote that, did he ? So my grandfather 
 was not mistaken. But to go on. 
 
 "A number of men from all the ships followed 
 him. Even then we made a good fight of it. They 
 were better armed, but then they didn't know the 
 ground as we did. However, whenever they were 
 hard pushed, boats full of their own people came to 
 help them, and at last they made their way to the 
 shore, driving us before them. We could not stand 
 against their arms. Their heavy iron swords broke 
 ours into pieces, while ours could hardly make any 
 impression upon their armour. We thought it a 
 lucky thing that they had no horsemen to pursue 
 us with. 
 
 "The next day the King held a council. We were 
 all greatly discouraged. It seemed no use to fight 
 with these strangers. If they could land in spite of 
 us, when the advantage was so much on our side, 
 what was the good of trying to meet them on equal 
 
14 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 terms ? So we sent envoys to the general, saying 
 that we would do what he wanted, that is, make our 
 submission to him and give hostages. He gave us 
 ten days to fetch the hostages. 
 
 " But before the time was out the Romans got into 
 great trouble. On the fourth day after their coming 
 there was a very high tide, which always comes on 
 the day after the full moon, and a strong wind blow- 
 ing on to the shore with it. They did not seem to 
 know anything about high tides. The ships had not 
 been drawn up on the shore out of the reach of the 
 sea, and those that were at anchor had their cables so 
 short that they were sunk. Some of our chiefs, who 
 were in their camp, waiting for the hostages, when 
 they saw what had happened, made the best of their 
 way to the King. * We have these people in a trap,' 
 they said. ' Their ships are so damaged that they 
 will not be able to get away. They have no provi- 
 sions to speak of. And, besides, there are not nearly 
 so many as we thought. Let us starve them out. If 
 we do, we shall not be troubled with the Romans 
 coming over here again.' The King thought that this 
 was excellent advice ; only if we were to do the thing 
 properly, we must keep our plans secret. So the 
 people were told to go in and out of the camp as 
 usual, with various things to sell to the soldiers. But 
 an ambush was laid in the woods, and when one of 
 
THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 15 
 
 the legions came out of the camp next day, and began 
 to help themselves to the corn in the fields, as their 
 way was, we attacked them without any notice. We 
 knew exactly where they would be, for they had 
 reaped all the wheat except one corner at the further 
 end. It was all the better for us, because it had 
 woods round it except on one side. 
 
 " At first we had the better of them, for they had 
 piled their arms in a heap, that they might have their 
 hands free for cutting the wheat, and some of them 
 had taken off all their armour except their helmets. 
 We killed a good many of them before they could get 
 hold of their swords and spears. And when they did 
 get hold of them they were all in confusion, and this 
 made us more than a match for them, in spite of their 
 iron arms and armour. But before we had done any- 
 thing like all we wanted, we saw another body of them 
 coming out of their camp, all ready for fighting. Their 
 chief general was leading them himself. One of my 
 comrades knew him at once, for he had been in the 
 
 X camp, and had seen him also two or three times on 
 
 \ the other side of the sea. He wasn't very tall or 
 
 strong to look at, but I could see that he had a face 
 
 /like a hawk, for at one time I was not more than a 
 
 /hundred paces off. All our people who had been 
 
 / across the sea said that he was a wonderful man to 
 plan and scheme. No one ever found him off his 
 
i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 guard. You see that even then he had suspected 
 something, and had this new army ready to help his 
 men. If he had not done this, I reckon that not 
 many of the others would have got back to the camp. 
 As it was, there was very little more fighting that 
 day. They were glad to leave off without losing any 
 more men, and we were not strong enough to attack 
 them when they were prepared to fight. 
 
 " For some days after it rained so hard that it was 
 not possible to do anything. Still we weren't idle. 
 We sent messengers to all the kings and chiefs within 
 reach, begging them to come to our help with all the 
 men that they could bring. ' The enemy,' we told 
 them, ' are not nearly as strong as we thought ' — that 
 we knew from their camp being so small. ' Now is 
 the time to get rid of them for good and all. Most 
 of their ships are broken to pieces, and they will not 
 be able to get away, if they are beaten. We shall kill 
 every one of them, and it will be a long time before 
 their countrymen trouble us again.' 
 
 " Some of the chiefs would not help, but most of 
 those that were at all within reach either came them- 
 selves or sent their sons or brothers with bands of 
 men. Day after day they came flocking into our 
 camp, till we had about three times as many men as 
 they had. Even then some of us were against fight- 
 ing. I was one of them. I thought it better to wait 
 
THE FIRST COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 17 
 
 and starve them out. You see they hadn't a great 
 store of food with them, and they could not get more 
 without running some risk. If we kept on the watch 
 while they were foraging for provisions we must find 
 them, sooner or later, off their guard. However, we 
 were overruled, and the party that was for fighting 
 had their way. It was just what the Romans wanted. 
 The first fine day they came out of their camp, and 
 drew up their men in order of battle. We attacked 
 them, and what I had expected happened. We could 
 not stand against them in an open fight. That day 
 it was all the worse, because most of our side had 
 never seen Romans before, and lost all heart when 
 they found what they were like. They had been loud 
 in boasting of what they would do, but they broke 
 and fled almost as soon as they came to close quarters. 
 In that battle we lost more men than on all the days 
 before put together. This time the Romans had some 
 horsemen, which they had never had before. There 
 were not many of them, but they cut down numbers 
 of our men in the pursuit. 
 
 " After this every one agreed that it would be better 
 to make peace ; so we sent envoys to the Roman 
 camp. Caesar was fairly gracious to them. The only 
 difterence he made in his terms was that the number 
 of hostages must be doubled. 
 
 " The next morning we had a great surprise — the 
 
1 8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Romans were gone ! They had mended their ships 
 all unknown to us, and now they embarked during 
 the night. We knew nothing about it, for the fires 
 were left burning in their camp. Besides, we were 
 too busy attending to the wounded and burying the 
 dead to heed what they were doing. Not long after 
 we heard that they had got across the sea without 
 losing any of their ships. More's the pity, I thought 
 to myself, for I felt sure they would come again." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 
 
 C. It looks, grandfather, as if Caesar was afraid, 
 his going off so quietly. 
 
 G. Well, my boy, it seems to me that he was 
 afraid in one way, and was not afraid in another. 
 He found out that he had not brought enough men, 
 and that he had come too late, for it was close upon 
 the stormiest time of the year. And then he knew 
 what our people ought to have done, and what he 
 should have done, if he had been in their place. No 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 19 
 
 doubt he was glad enough to get safe back across the 
 sea ; I take it there was more danger in that than in 
 anything else. And that he was really afraid I don't 
 believe, for, you see, he came again. But to go on 
 with my grandfather's story. 
 
 " There was great rejoicing and not a little boasting 
 when we found the camp empty. * They have had 
 enough of it,' some of us said, ' we shall not see any- 
 thing more of them.' That I never believed ; their 
 general, I was quite sure, was not a man to draw 
 back from anything that he had set his hand to. 
 And so it turned out. 
 
 "We were not left long in doubt about what he 
 was going to do. Before the winter was over we 
 heard from our friends on the other side of the sea 
 that all the ships in the country were being brought 
 together to the harbours on the opposite coast, and 
 that a number of new ones were being built. Later 
 on we were told that the soldiers were being brought 
 up to the coast, and that there would be more than 
 three times as many as had come the year before. 
 All this looked very serious, and as if the Romans 
 really meant to conquer the island this time. There 
 was some talk among us of all the kings in the 
 country joining their forces together ; but it came to 
 nothing, at least then. All that was done was to 
 gather as big an army as we could find, and to 
 
20 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 watch the coast. Some time after midsummer — the 
 days, I remember, were . beginning to get a little 
 shorter — the fleet came in sight, at much about the 
 same place where it had been first seen the year 
 before. But they seemed, somehow, to be coming the 
 other way. They had been carried too far, I suppose, 
 by the tide, and were now coming back. As soon 
 as we caught sight of the first ships, we made haste to 
 get down to the beach where they had landed the 
 year before. But when we saw what a multitude of 
 vessels there was — there must have been nearly ten 
 times as many as had come the last time — our men 
 got fairly frightened. In spite of all that some of 
 the chiefs could do to keep them at their post, they 
 left the shore. In the end, the Romans landed with- 
 out any one trying to hinder them. Afterwards we 
 found that many of the ships we saw had no soldiers 
 on board, but belonged to merchants. They had come 
 with the army to buy and sell — buy any plunder that 
 the soldiers might get, and sell them wine and other 
 things. However, I doubt whether if we had tried to 
 stop them from landing we should have done any 
 good. 
 
 " They did not give us any rest. The very day of 
 their landing, their general, without even waiting to 
 pitch his camp, as we had expected that he would do, 
 marched up the country after us. We tried to stop 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 21 
 
 him at a difficult place, where he had to cross a river 
 and then make his way up a steep hill ; but it was of 
 no use. We could not stand against him, and had 
 to fall back upon a strong fort that had been built 
 about twelve miles from the sea. It was now early 
 in the morning, for the Romans must have started 
 very soon after midnight. The camp was a very 
 strong place, and could not be taken, we thought, in 
 a whole moon, except by starving the garrison out. 
 Well, it was, as I said, early in the morning when the 
 Romans came up, and they had taken the place 
 before noon. The soldiers covered themselves with 
 their shields while they filled up the ditch first, and 
 then made a mound against the wall. And all the 
 time they did this there was no getting at them, they 
 stood so close together and so firm. I don't suppose 
 that we wounded more than two or three. After a 
 while we gave up trying ; in fact we left the place to 
 be taken. 
 
 " That night we held a council. Some were for 
 giving in to the Romans without any more delay. 
 * We can't make any head against them,' they said, 
 and it really seemed as if they were right. But most 
 of us were for holding out, but how this was to be 
 done we could not think. At last I took courage to 
 say what I knew a great many besides myself were 
 thinking. ' If we are to save Britain from being con- 
 
22 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 quered/ I said, * we must unite, we must have one 
 general/ For a time there was silence. At last 
 some one cried out, ' And who is this one general to 
 be?' 'Who can doubt?' I said; * it must be King 
 
 
 ROMAN SOLDIERS ATTACKING A FORT. 
 
 Caswallon.'^ There was no silence after that, you 
 may be sure. Some clapped their hands, but only 
 
 1 Called by Caesar Cassivelminus. What his real name may 
 have been is unknown, but it was probably something like 
 Caswallon. 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 23 
 
 a few, many hissed or groaned. There was not a man 
 in all Britain so hated and feared as King Caswallon. 
 He was never quiet, but always trying to get hold of 
 something that belonged to his neighbours, or to do 
 them a mischief in some way. Still, as I said, he was 
 the only man, because there was no one else who had 
 anything like the power, no one else who was great 
 enough for the others to submit to him. People will 
 obey a man whom they hate so long as they fear 
 him ; ^ but they won't obey one whom they despise. 
 Well, there was much talking, but at last all agreed 
 that King Caswallon was to be asked to take the 
 chief command. 
 
 " By good luck we had some time to get our men 
 together, for the Roman general had to go back to 
 see after his ships, which had been damaged by a 
 storm — so our spies told us. By the time he had 
 finished looking after them. King Caswallon came 
 up with his men. His cavalry and his chariots were 
 the best in Britain, and we hoped that he would have 
 better success than we had had. And so it turned 
 out for a time. First there was a fight of cavalry, 
 and the Roman horsemen followed our men so far 
 into the woods that they were entangled. The King 
 
 1 The old Briton seems to have had the same thought in his 
 mind that the Roman writer had when he said, " Let them 
 hate me if only they fear." 
 
24 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 saw this and cut off a good many of them. A few 
 days afterwards he found them quite off their guard. 
 They were busy fortifying the camp, and seemed not 
 to have any notion that we were in the neighbourhood. 
 We crept up close to them under cover of the woods, 
 which somehow they had forgotten to watch, and fell 
 on the companies that were nearest to us. These we 
 put to flight ; two new companies, which we heard 
 afterwards were reckoned to be the best soldiers they 
 had, hardly did any better ; we broke right through 
 them, kilHng a good many, and carrying off the body 
 of one of their chief officers. We lost hardly any of 
 our men. 
 
 " There was one thing, you know, in which we had 
 the better of them, and that was our chariots. These 
 had great scythes fastened to their axles, and did a 
 great deal of damage to the enemy. Our men used 
 to drive them up at full gallop, and it was very seldom 
 that they did not manage to break through the 
 Roman line with them. I have seen a dozen chariots 
 go clean through a division. After a time they got 
 more used to them, for they were wonderfully brave 
 men. Then they took to killing the horses. But to 
 the very last, the first rush of the chariots made a 
 great impression upon them. 
 
 " Of course we were greatly encouraged by our 
 success. Unluckily, it made us too bold. A few 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 25 
 
 days afterwards we tried a regular pitched battle 
 with the enemy, and were terribly beaten. As they 
 had now a great number of cavalry, they pursued us 
 a long way and killed a great many of our men. 
 The next day half or more of those that escaped 
 went away to their homes. They had had enough 
 of fighting with the Romans. 
 
 "Very soon after this the Romans marched to 
 the river Thames. That was then King Caswallon's 
 boundary on the south. It could only be forded in 
 one place, and that not at all easily, the water was 
 so deep and the stream so strong. Besides, to make 
 it all the harder, a number of stakes had been driven 
 into the bed of the river. I was not there at the 
 time, but I heard what happened afterwards from 
 some one who was present. They did not stop for a 
 moment when they came to the water's edge, though 
 the stream was running strong, and the other bank 
 was covered with men. They went into the river at 
 a run, foot-soldiers and horse-soldiers mixed together. 
 It was so deep that the men on foot had only 
 their heads above the water. Even that did not stop 
 them, nor, as you may suppose, did the men that 
 were posted on the other bank. In fact, none of them 
 stayed till the Romans got across. They said there 
 was no standing against such wonderful soldiers. 
 
 '' After this King Caswallon did not try to meet the 
 
26 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 enemy in open fight again. He sent all his foot- 
 soldiers home, keeping only some of the horsemen 
 and chariots. With these he followed the Romans on 
 their march. Neither man nor beast was left in the 
 open country ; all were driven into the woods ; and as 
 soon as ever a Roman soldier left the main body to 
 get a little plunder or to look for provisions — and they 
 had not much food beyond what they could get in 
 this way — he was sure to be cut off. The King could 
 not stop the enemy from going on ; still, they lost 
 many men in this way. 
 
 " However, they did our people a great deal more 
 harm than we could do them. There was not a 
 village anywhere near their line of march that was 
 not burnt, nor a house or field that was not plundered, 
 no, nor a fruit tree that was not cut down. Then 
 some of our tribes began to fall off and make peace 
 with the Romans. The first to do so were the 
 Trinobantes. Caswallon had killed their king, and 
 driven his son into banishment. They made a treaty 
 with Caesar, sending him hostages, and a quantity of 
 corn for his army. Others did the same. From some 
 of their envoys the Romans learnt the way to Cas- 
 wallon's chief town. It was a difficult place to find, 
 v/ith woods and marshes all round it, but these traitors 
 sent the Romans a guide. It was a strong place, 
 as we had been used to reckon strong places, but the 
 
THE SECOND COMING OF JULIUS CAESAR. 27 
 
 Romans made very short work with it ; they attacked 
 it on two sides at once, and the King's people did not 
 wait for them, but made the best of their way out. 
 The King and his tribe lost thousands of cattle there. 
 
 " Then Caswallon tried his last chance. He sent 
 orders to the kings on the sea-coast that they were 
 to try to destroy the ships. If that could be done 
 Caesar would certainly have to go back. They did 
 what they were ordered to do, but it was of no use. 
 The fortification round the ships was too strong and 
 too well protected. The kings were beaten back and 
 lost many men. 
 
 "After this there was nothing left for Caswallon 
 but to make peace. This he found easy enough, for 
 Caesar was very anxious to get away, because he had 
 heard bad news from the other side of the sea. The 
 King had to give hostages, and he agreed to pay a 
 tribute every year. Part of this tribute the Romans 
 took away with them, but the rest they never got. 
 Caesar had plenty to do in Gaul, as we heard from 
 our friends and kinsmen over there, and though he 
 sent once or twice to ask for what was owing, he 
 never did anything else." 
 
 That was my grandfather's story. Well, the Romans 
 never came again till about forty years ago, though I 
 remember that there was talk about their coming 
 once or twice when I was a young man. 
 
aS STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 KING CARACTACUS. 
 
 C. Well, there is not much difference, after all, 
 between your grandfather's story and what JuHus 
 wrote. I asked my teacher to let me read it all, for 
 I had heard only parts of it before. He offered to 
 lend me the book, but I was afraid to borrow it, lest 
 it should come to some harm. He said that there 
 was not another copy in all Britain, and that he 
 should have to send to Lugdunum^in Gaul for it. 
 Perhaps Julius makes one think that he did more 
 in Britain than was really the case ; but on the whole 
 his story agrees wonderfully well with your grand- 
 father's. But now tell me what you yourself re- 
 member. 
 
 G. So I will. We were threatened by the Romans 
 several times before they actually came. Once the 
 Roman Emperor came as near as the opposite shore 
 of Gaul. Our king Cunobelin had banished his son, 
 
 ^ Now Lyons. We know that there were booksellers at this 
 time (about the end of the first century after Christ) at 
 Lugdunum. 
 
KING CARACTACUS. 29 
 
 and the worthless fellow went to the Emperor and 
 pretended to give up the kingdom to him — of course 
 it was never his to give. The Emperor — he was more 
 than half a madman I have been told — marched his 
 legions down to the sea, drew them up in order of 
 battle, and then set them to picking up shells. " Spoils 
 of the ocean " he called them, and had them solemnly 
 sent to Rome and laid up in the chief temple. Three 
 years afterwards they came in earnest. The mad 
 Emperor had been murdered, and his successor 
 (Claudius) sent a very skilful general to carry on the 
 war. In the year following he came himself, but 
 stayed only a few days. King Cunobelin's town was 
 taken. That did not finish the war ; there was fighting 
 for several years in the south and west of the country. 
 The last to hold out was the brave King Caractacus. 
 He too was conquered in the end. The fact is, we 
 Britons are not a match for these Romans. Man for 
 man, we are as brave, and certainly taller and stronger. 
 But then they have far better arms, and they are 
 better disciplined. There was a great battle some- 
 where in the west. Our people had a very strong 
 position. They were posted on a hill, with a thick 
 wood on either side and a river in front. And there 
 were three or four times as many of them as of the 
 Romans. I have heard that the Roman general him- 
 self was afraid to attack ; but the soldiers went on, 
 
30 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 almost, I may say, in spite of him, and stormed the 
 place. Our people, you see, had no breast-plates, 
 and their wicker shields were not of much use aeainst 
 
 f 1 
 
 
 T 
 
 1 1 i 
 
 
 
 1 1 ■■ 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 1 1 1 1 
 
 
 III 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 ' 
 
 ROMAN SOLDIERS CROSSING A RIVER. 
 
 a heavy Roman sword. And then their own swords 
 and spears were mostly of bronze. You, my boy, 
 are used to see everything made of iron, but it was 
 not so at the time that I am speaking of, thirty or 
 
KING CARACTACUS. 31 
 
 forty years ago. Iron weapons cost so much that 
 only the chiefs had them. The common people used 
 bronze ; and bronze, I need not tell you, is no match 
 for iron. Well, as I said, the King's camp was taken, 
 and his wife and children with it. His brothers gave 
 themselves up. As for the King himself, he managed 
 to escape. 
 
 C. And what became of him .^ 
 
 G. He took refuge with a neighbour, Queen of the 
 Brigantes. She put him in prison, and gave him up 
 to the Romans. 
 
 C. What a wicked woman ! 
 
 G. Yes, indeed ; but what can you expect of a 
 creature who sent away her husband, one of the best 
 soldiers that ever was in Britain, and married the 
 driver of her own chariot } 
 
 C. And what did the Romans do with him } 
 
 G. They behaved better to him than is their 
 custom. He was taken to Rome and brought before 
 the Emperor. I saw one of the soldiers who was on 
 guard that day, and he told me the whole story. The 
 Emperor sat on one seat, with the flags of the 
 Roman legions round him, and his wife on another, 
 just as if she were his equal. We Britons, you know, 
 would as willingly have a queen as a king, but the 
 Romans don't hold with us in that ; they don't take 
 such account of women ; but this was one who thought 
 
32 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 herself equal to any man, and her husband was, by 
 all accounts, a very poor creature. Well, as I said, the 
 King was brought, and told to answer for himself, he 
 and his brothers and all his family. The rest threw 
 themselves on the ground and begged for their lives. 
 But he would not stoop to do such a thing. What he 
 said was something like this : " If I had chosen to 
 submit to you, I might have been your friend and not 
 your prisoner to-day ; but I preferred to be my own 
 master. I thought that I was strong enough to be 
 so ; you have shown me that I was wrong, and you 
 have the glory of it. And now, you can do what you 
 will with me. If you kill me, there is nothing more 
 to be said ; if you pardon me, your generosity will 
 never be forgotten." Pardoned he was ; but they 
 never let him come back to his own country. They 
 were afraid, I suppose, that he would make trouble. 
 C. And you took no part in this war } 
 G. No ; we had nothing to do with it. You see, 
 when King Cunobelin's town was taken, my master, 
 whose country was not far off — it lies to the north, as 
 you know — thought it best to make terms with the 
 new-comers. I and three other chiefs were sent as 
 ambassadors to the Roman generals with presents 
 and hostages. The Romans always asked for host- 
 ages, and a good plan it is for what they want. Ah ! 
 they have a clever way of managing the people they 
 
BOA DICE A. 33 
 
 have to do with. But it is a terrible thing for those 
 who have to give them. My own son — my second 
 boy — was one of them. He was taken away to Italy, 
 and died, I heard, of a fever, about a year afterwards. 
 They put a tribute upon us. However, it was not 
 very heavy, and, anyhow, we had peace and quiet as 
 Jong as we paid it. As for the King, my master, he 
 was fairly charmed with the strangers. He went to 
 Rome, and when he came back, nothing would satisfy 
 him but he must have everything in Roman fashion. 
 Ah ! if he could only have foreseen what was to come ! 
 Happily for him, the trouble, as you will hear, came 
 after his days. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 BOADICEA. 
 
 One thing that my master learnt at Rome was 
 this. It seems that many rich men leave part of 
 their money to the Emperor, and the rest to their 
 wives and children, or, it may be, to other relatives 
 and friends. They think that if the Emperor gets a 
 share for himself, he will, for very shame, let the 
 
34 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Others have what belongs to them. Well, this was 
 how my master arranged matters. The Emperor 
 was to have a third of all his property ; his wife, 
 Queen Boadicea, was to have the same, and his 
 daughters the same. Poor man ! he was sadly mis- 
 taken if he thought that this would do them any 
 good. As soon as the breath was out of his body, the» 
 Roman officers broke into the house. They must 
 see, forsooth, that the Emperor had his proper share. 
 I can't tell you the wicked and shameful things they 
 did. They plundered the whole place ; they beat 
 the Queen most cruelly with rods ; even that was 
 not the worst. Then the whole country broke out 
 into a blaze of fury. As you may suppose, this was 
 not the first wickedness or cruelty that the Romans 
 had done ; there was scarcely a village that had not 
 suffered something at their hands. The Queen went 
 through the country calling the people to arms, and 
 they flocked in thousands after her. Other tribes 
 joined us, and before that moon was out we had full 
 twenty thousand fighting men. It was just the 
 right time for us to make an effort. Almost the 
 whole of the Roman army had been taken away 
 by the Governor on an expedition against the Island 
 of the Priests — it lies a little way off the western coast 
 — and our part of the country was left almost with- 
 out a single soldier. I myself thought that the time 
 
BOADICEA. 35 
 
 was come, though I ought to have known better. 
 Sooner or later, the Romans were bound to beat us. 
 However, at first everything went well ; we began by 
 marching against Camalodunum. It is, as you know, 
 what they call a colony, a place to which old soldiers 
 are sent when their time is up. They are half 
 soldiers and half farmers, living in the town, and 
 farming the land round it, or rather making the 
 people to whom it once belonged farm it for them. 
 There had been a new batch of them just come to 
 the place, and indeed it was the lawless doings of 
 these new arrivals that had been the cause of a great 
 deal of the trouble. They were not in the least pre- 
 pared for our coming. The walls had never been 
 finished ; in fact they had scarcely been begun. A 
 walled town, you see, is not pleasant to live in, and 
 they had no idea but what they were perfectly safe. 
 They would have as soon expected their very cattle 
 to turn against them as the people of whom they had 
 made slaves. Before long, deserters from the town 
 came into our camp. They told us that the whole 
 place was full of confusion and fear. It was not 
 only the rebellion that made them afraid : there had 
 been signs of some great trouble to come. The 
 statue of Victory that stood in the great square of the 
 town had fallen down, with its face turned in a 
 strange way, just as if it had tried to fly. Curious 
 
36 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 sounds had been heard in the senate-house, and dead 
 bodies had been found on the sea-shore when the tide 
 was down. All this encouraged us, just as much 
 as it discouraged them. They told us, too, that 
 they had sent to the nearest station for help, and 
 
 ROMAN SOLDIERS FORTIFYING A PLACE. 
 
 the officer in command could let them have no 
 more than a couple of hundred men, and these only 
 half armed. No one tried to stop us on the way, 
 and when we came to the town, we had only to walk 
 in. The walls, as I told you, were little more than 
 
BOADICEA. 37 
 
 begun. There was only one strong place in the 
 town, and that was the Temple of the Emperor. 
 
 C. What do you mean, grandfather, by '' the 
 Temple of the Emperor " t 
 
 G. Why, they make gods of their emperors when 
 they are dead. Indeed they do something like it 
 while they are still alive. So they had made a god 
 of Claudius — that was the Emperor, you know, who 
 conquered King Cunobelin — and built a temple to 
 him, and had priests who sacrificed to him. That, by 
 the way, was one of their ways of robbing us. They 
 appointed the rich men in the country priests of the 
 Emperor, and made them pay so much for the honour 
 as pretty nearly to ruin them. Well, as I said, this 
 temple was the one strong place in the town, and it 
 might have been made, with scarcely any trouble, very 
 strong indeed. But nothing had been done ; there 
 was neither ditch nor rampart, only the bare walls. 
 No one would have thought that they were old 
 soldiers, who ought to have known all about these 
 things. They hadn't even sent away the women and 
 children. The temple was crowded with helpless 
 people. The soldiers could hardly have moved for 
 them. And, of course, the provisions could not have 
 held out for any time. Anyhow, the place was taken 
 on the second day. That night there was not a 
 house standing or a soul living in all the colony. 
 
38 . STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Oh, boy, it was an awful sight ; I hope that I shall 
 never see another such. 
 
 The same night our spies — of course we had spies 
 everywhere, as the whole country was friendly to us — 
 brought us the news that a Roman legion was on its 
 way to relieve the colony. They knew nothing about 
 its having been destroyed, for, naturally, while we 
 heard everything they heard nothing. So we laid an 
 ambush for them in a wood, about five miles from the 
 colony, through which they would have to pass. They 
 came marching along without any scouts in front, 
 just as if there was not an enemy within fifty miles. 
 We rushed out on them, and it was all over in less 
 than an hour. Hardly a single infantry soldier 
 escaped, and we took no prisoners. The general 
 and his horsemen had to ride for their lives. The 
 next day we began our march on London. When we 
 had got about half way our scouts came racing up 
 with the news that the Roman legions were on their 
 way back. I was with the Queen when she heard it. 
 I saw her eyes lighten. " Good," she said, " we will 
 serve them as we served the legion to-day. March 
 on." We marched, the people flocking in with arms 
 in their hands at every village that we reached. We 
 expected, of course, to find the Romans at London. 
 It was by far the richest town in the province — what 
 it is now does not give you any idea of what it was 
 
BOADICEA. 39 
 
 then — and we felt sure that the Governor would not let 
 us get possession of it without a fight. But he did, 
 and it was very well for him that he did. If he had 
 tried to keep it, his army must have been destroyed. 
 It was far too small to defend so big a place. I 
 heard afterwards that the London merchants — Roman 
 citizens many of them — begged and prayed him to 
 stand by them, but he would not. All that he could 
 do for them, he said, was to let the able-bodied men 
 come with him. All their wealth beyond what they 
 could carry, all the old and the sick, and the greater 
 part of the women and children were left. Well, I 
 don't like to think of what happened. I would give 
 a good deal if I could forget it. Enough to say that 
 what had happened to Camalodunum happened to 
 London. It was said that seventy thousand poor 
 creatures perished, many of them our own country- 
 men too, for no other fault than that they had made 
 friends with the Romans. Of course our people had 
 a great many wrongs to avenge, but to do it in such a 
 fashion — and what that fashion was I should not like 
 to tell you — was too horrible. Another Roman town 
 about twenty miles from London was destroyed, and 
 then came the end. Of course the Queen could not 
 keep her army together for a very long time. They 
 ate up everything in the country round, and indeed 
 were in a fair way to be as much hated by the people 
 
40 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 as the Romans themselves. It was necessary for her 
 to get back to her own capital, and to do that she had 
 to fight, for the Governor had posted himself in a 
 strong place on the way. But I must put off telling 
 you what happened to another day. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 BOADICEA {continued). 
 
 C. You promised, grandfather, to finish the story 
 of the Queen. 
 
 G, You shall hear it, though it was a miserable 
 business from beginning to end. Well, after the 
 Roman towns had been destroyed, many of our 
 people, not so much the Queen's own tribe as those 
 that had joined in afterwards, began to shp away 
 with their plunder. I dare say some of them hoped 
 to get off free whatever might happen. However, 
 there were quite enough left to do all that was wanted. 
 Indeed, to tell you the truth, I believe that we should 
 have fared much better if we had had only half the 
 number. A great mob of all sorts such as we had, 
 
BO A DICE A. 4? 
 
 many of them with more of the robber than the soldier 
 in them, was not good for much. It was too confident 
 at first, and too easily frightened afterwards. How- 
 ever, we did not think so then. You see we had never 
 really tried what the Roman soldiers were like. The 
 legion we destroyed on the way to London was taken 
 by surprise, and had no chance of showing what it 
 was like. After that there had been no fighting at 
 all, only plundering and slaying helpless people. And 
 we certainly seemed to be more than a match for 
 them. Our scouts told us that- the Governor had 
 no more than ten thousand men. He had sent — so 
 they said — to the commander of a camp in the west 
 to bring all the troops that he could spare, and the 
 man had refused. That encouraged us, as you may 
 suppose, not a little. Some of the Romans, we could 
 see, were afraid. 
 
 C. But what a foolish thing for him to do, grand- 
 father ! 
 
 G. Yes, indeed, my boy. What could he have 
 hoped to do if the main body had been destroyed .'* 
 He killed himself afterwards, so ashamed was he of 
 having been so cowardly and foolish. However, as 
 I said, it gave us no little confidence. There was 
 scarcely one among us but believed that there would 
 not be a Roman soldier alive at the end of the day. 
 Soon after daybreak we were ready for the battle. 
 
42 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Before we moved forward the Queen drove in her 
 chariot through the army, and spoke to every division 
 — it was divided, you must understand, by tribes, and 
 not a Httle jealousy and quarreUing was there about 
 places. 
 
 C. What was she like, grandfather ? 
 
 G. The very noblest-looking woman that I ever 
 saw. She was taller than most men — indeed there 
 were not many in the whole army that overtopped 
 her. There was a stern look on her face, and a fierce 
 light in her eyes, though I can remember a time when 
 she was as sweet and gentle a lady as there was in 
 Britain. But many things had happened since then. 
 Her hair was of rich golden red, and fell in great 
 waves down to her hips. Round her head it was kept 
 together by a circlet of gold. She had a tunic, with 
 crossbars of bright colours on it — you seldom see such 
 a thing now that the Roman dress is so much in 
 fashion — and a military cloak over her shoulders. In 
 her right hand she held a spear. 
 
 C. Can you remember what she said, grandfather > 
 
 G. Every word, and shall to the day of my death, 
 or as long, at least, as I remember anything. But I 
 shall not repeat it. What good would it be if I did } 
 The Romans are our masters, and it is best to be 
 content with them. Anyhow they are the best that 
 we are likely to find. But you shall hear the last 
 
BOADICEA. 43 
 
 thing that she said, because it was so like her. " We 
 must conquer," she said, " nor do I see how we can 
 fail. But if not, what then ? DIE, that is what a 
 woman means to do ; I leave it to vien to live and be 
 slaves." 
 
 The Queen had left her own people to the last ; 
 and as the division to which I belonged was on the 
 extreme right of the army — she began her progress 
 through the divisions at the left — when she had finished 
 her speech to us the battle began. Our men rushed 
 forward helter-skelter, as if they were going to simply 
 run over the enemy, as a herd of cattle might run 
 over a man. And there was such a cloud of javelins, 
 darts, arrows, stones, as, I should think, had never 
 been seen before. The Romans simply stood where 
 they were, and bore it. They held their shields 
 over their heads, but no man moved an inch from his 
 place. If a man was struck down — and though 
 hundreds of missiles missed where one hit, some 
 of them were ; I myself saw several fall — the gap 
 was filled up in a moment. This went on for 
 about an hour. By the end of that time we had 
 spent all our stock of breath and of weapons. Then 
 there happened something that I suppose no one had 
 looked for. The legion charged. It was in close 
 order, something like a wedge, and marched, I may 
 say, like one man. There was no standing against it. 
 
44 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 It broke through our loose ranks as a hatchet breaks 
 through a piece of wood. And then their light-armed 
 soldiers and their horsemen finished what the legion 
 had begun, for they cut down those that fled, or tried 
 to fly, for it was very hard to get away from the battle- 
 field. There were rows of wagons in our rear, in 
 
 ROMAN SOLDIERS IN BATTLE. 
 
 which the women and children were carried. Poor 
 things ! they had come to see a fine sight, as they 
 thought. But it turned out to be something very, 
 very different. 
 
 C. And what happened to the Queen ? 
 
 G. It was no fault of hers that she did not die on 
 the field of battle. If a woman ever sought for death, 
 
BOADICEA. 45 
 
 she did. But it was not to be. Towards the end of 
 the day she was wounded, and fainted with loss of 
 blood. While she was in this state her charioteer 
 drove her off the field. It was a long time before 
 she rightly came to herself. When she did she would 
 have killed herself; but her servants put everything 
 out of her reach. You see they wanted to make favour 
 with the Romans by giving her up to them. The 
 Governor would have paid a high price, no doubt, if 
 he could have got hold of her alive. Of course 
 you have read in your histories about the Roman 
 triumphs, as they call them. It would have been a 
 fine thing for the Governor to take such a woman as 
 the Queen through the streets of Rome. I doubt 
 whether they had ever seen her like before. How- 
 ever, they did not get their way. She managed to 
 get at some poison, and killed herself in that 
 way. 
 
 C. So that was the end of the great Queen ! And 
 now tell me about my own people. 
 
 G. Your grandfather was killed in the battle, and 
 I was taken prisoner. We were in the same chariot. 
 Of course I never expected or indeed wished for any- 
 thing but death. But they spared my life ; I had 
 been able to save a few people when London was 
 sacked, and they were grateful for it. One of them 
 in particular, a very rich knight, made great interest 
 
46 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 with the Governor for me. He found it a very hard 
 matter, for Pauh'nus — that was the Governor's name 
 — was as hard and stern as a man could be. But 
 PauHnus was recalled, and some one less stern and strict 
 was sent out in his place. Then I received my pardon, 
 and with it a share of my property, which, of course, 
 had been confiscated. At the time I would sooner 
 have died, but afterwards I was reconciled to life. My 
 son, your grandfather that is, had left a daughter, who 
 was then a girl of ten years old or so. It was a great 
 comfort to me to have her with me ; she was all that 
 was left to me, for my second son had died, as I told 
 you, in Italy. When she was eighteen, she married 
 a Roman officer, who had bought some property in 
 the island. I thought that I should spend my last 
 days with her and her husband, but it was not to be. 
 The year after their marriage there were awful troubles 
 all over the world, and they reached even to our poor 
 home out here.^ First the Emperor at Rome was 
 killed, or rather driven to kill himself. Then the 
 general that was chosen to come after him was mur- 
 dered by the soldiers in the streets of Rome. The 
 soldiers of Rome put up an Emperor of their own, 
 but the army in Germany would not have him, and 
 chose their own general. He won the victory, after 
 some very fierce fighting. And then the army in the 
 ^ This was the year 69 A.D. 
 
BOA DICE A. 47 
 
 East had their turn. Why should not they have their 
 Emperor, they said, as well as any one else ? And it 
 so happened that they had a really good man at their 
 head. Vespasian was his name. Many years before 
 he had been a soldier in this country, and had dis- 
 tinguished himself very much, and my son-in-law had 
 served under him then, and had got to like and admire 
 him very much. And now, as soon as he heard what 
 had happened, nothing would content him but that 
 he must hurry over to Italy, and do what he could to 
 help his old chief. I could not blame him, but all 
 the same I wished with all my heart that the thought 
 had never entered into his mind. But he was ambi- 
 tious, I suppose, as well as grateful. He had thought 
 that he was content to farm, and hunt, and fish, but 
 it was not so ; as soon as he had the chance of some- 
 thing more he took it. Well, there was some sharp 
 fighting in Italy before Vespasian's party won the 
 day, and my granddaughter's husband went through 
 all of it without getting as much as a scratch. And 
 just in the last battle of all, at the very end of the 
 day, when they were making their way into Rome, 
 he was killed by a wounded man, who struck at 
 him from the ground. The news killed my poor 
 granddaughter. You were born on the day when 
 it arrived, and she just lived long enough to kiss 
 you» 
 
48 STOKJES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Now, my dear boy, you will not wonder that I do 
 not altogether love these Romans. Still, they are 
 here, and you must make the best of them. My 
 time is short, and the future does not concern me ; 
 but you have your time to live, and the better 
 friends you are with your masters, the more you 
 will prosper. 
 
PART II. 
 
 IN SAXON TIMES. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 
 
 There had been a battle at the Ford of the river 
 Wye between Griffith, one of the Princes of Wales, and 
 the West Saxons. The Welsh had won the day, not 
 a little by the help of the young Prince Constantine, 
 who had come from the British kingdom of Cumbria, 
 in the hope of marrying the sister of Prince Griffith. 
 As they sat at the feast after the battle, the talk of 
 the chiefs turned upon the old days when the Britons 
 dwelt in peace in their land before the Saxons from 
 the Eastern seas had come to vex them. 
 
 " Tell me," said Prince Constantine, turning to 
 Hoel the minstrel, " tell me how these troubles began. 
 I have heard the tale as it is told in my own country, 
 and I would willingly hear it as it is told in yours." 
 
 " Prince," said Hoel, *' I can refuse nothing to so 
 valiant a fighter ; but it is a tale of sorrow and wrong, 
 and ill suited for a feast." 
 
52 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 "Speak on," said Constantine ; "your story shall 
 teach us to grow wiser and better." 
 
 " Know then," said Hoel, " that for a time after the 
 Romans left us, things went well in Britain." 
 
 "Stay," cried the Prince, "you must pardon my 
 ignorance ; but tell me why these Romans left us. 
 Did we drive them out } " 
 
 " Not so," answered the minstrel ; " they needed 
 their armies elsewhere, for they were themselves hard 
 pressed by their enemies. Well, as I said, things for 
 a time went well But our fathers had forgotten how 
 to fight, nor did they rightly know how to govern 
 themselves. And hence came our troubles. These 
 began with King Constans, a good man, doubtless, but 
 one who, having been a monk, cared little for the 
 things of this world, and committed all the affairs of 
 his nation to a certain noble, Vortigern by name. This 
 man was possessed with a great ambition, having it 
 in his mind to become King himself. To this end he 
 laid his plans. First he asked the King to give him 
 the charge of his treasures and of his strong cities. 
 'Your enemies, Sir,' he said, 'have the purpose of 
 invading Britain, and I would keep these things safe 
 for you.' The King granted him his request, not 
 suspecting any evil ; but Vortigern put into these 
 strong places men of his own choosing, who would be 
 ready to do what he desired. Next he said to the 
 
THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 53 
 
 King, * I hear that the Picts ^ are about to attack us, 
 bringing with them alHes from beyond the sea. Now 
 my counsel is that you increase the number of your 
 own guard.' 'Do as you will,' answered the King. 
 * Have I not left all things to you .'* ' * Then,' said 
 Vortigern, ' the best men that we can have for this 
 purpose are the Picts themsel\^es. I will hire a 
 hundred of them, for they will not only serve as a 
 guard, but will also spy upon their own countrymen, 
 if they should have any design against us.' Constans 
 consenting, as he consented to all things, Vortigern 
 hired these Picts, receiving them into the King's 
 household, and feeding them sumptuously, and giving 
 them many gifts. After he had thus won their hearts, 
 he said to them, * I have it in my mind to leave this 
 island of Britain, and to look for a better estate else- 
 where. Here my revenues are so small that I cannot 
 support even fifty men, much less a hundred.' The 
 Picts said to one another, * Why do we suffer this man 
 to live } Why do we not kill him, that Vortigern, who 
 is far worthier than he, may have his crown "i ' 
 Thereupon they broke into the chamber of the King, 
 and slew him. His head they cut off, and carried it 
 to Vortigern. But he, pretending that the thing was 
 done without his knowledge, commanded that they 
 should be bound and put to death. There were some, 
 1 The inhabitants of Northern Britain. 
 
54 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 however, who believed that he was guilty in this 
 matter. The Picts also desired to avenge the slaying 
 of their countrymen. And besides these things, the 
 young brothers of King Constans, who had been carried 
 
 ,-^ 
 
 A SAXON SHIP. 
 
 across the sea by their tutors when the King was 
 killed, were now preparing to return and to claim 
 their kingdom by force of arms. Thus it came to 
 pass that Vortigern was in great straits. Being in 
 this condition, he heard that three galleys, full of 
 
THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 55 
 
 armed men, had come to the coast of Kent, under the 
 command of two chiefs, Hengist and Horsa by name. 
 Vortigern commanded that these strangers should be 
 brought into his presence. When they had come, he 
 asked them of what country they were, and for what 
 purpose they had visited his kingdom. The chiefs 
 made this answer, ' It is the custom in our country, 
 that from time to time, when the number of .our 
 people is greater than the land can feed, our princes 
 gather all the youth of the nation into one place. 
 This being done, they cast lots who shall go into other 
 lands wherein they may earn their own livelihood. 
 This year the lot fell upon us, and we are come hither 
 to offer you our service.' 
 
 " To this Vortigern answered, * I am rejoiced at 
 your coming. I am hard pressed by many enemies. 
 If, therefore, you will help me against them, I will 
 entertain you honourably in my kingdom, will give 
 you good wages for the present, and will settle you 
 hereafter on lands which you can cultivate for 
 yourselves.' 
 
 ** To this the new-comers gave their consent. Not 
 many days afterwards the Picts invaded Britain with 
 a great army, and Vortigern went against them with 
 his men, taking with him the Saxons, for so the 
 strangers were named. In the battle that was fought 
 the Britons had scarcely need to do anything, for the 
 
56 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 Saxons, by their own strength, turned the Picts to 
 flight. Vortigern now gave to the Saxons certain 
 lands in the east country. Thereupon Hengist said 
 to him, ' You have yet many enemies, my lord. Shall 
 I send for more of my countrymen, for of a surety we 
 shall need them ? ' ' Send for as many as you will,' 
 said Vortigern, * they will all be welcome.' Then 
 Hengist spake further : ' I have yet another thing to 
 ask. You have given us land sufficient ; suffer us 
 also to build a fortress, which may be called after my 
 name, for this is an honour which is my due, seeing 
 that you or yours commonly possess it.' Vortigern 
 answered, ' This may not be ; you are strangers and 
 pagans, and know not the customs of the land. Were 
 I myself inclined to it, my nobles would not suffer it' 
 
 " To this Hengist answered, ' Give me so much as 
 this, O King, to wit a piece of land so large as may 
 be surrounded by a bull's hide, with which I may 
 do what I will.' 
 
 " ' Let it be so,' said Vortigern. 
 
 " Then Hengist cut up a bull's hide into thongs ; 
 these he fastened together in one piece, and sur- 
 rounded with it a piece of land which he had chosen 
 for himself as being the most strongly placed in the 
 whole country. This was afterwards called Thong 
 Castle. 
 
 " After this the messengers which Hengist had sent 
 
THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 57 
 
 to his own country returned, bringing with them 
 eighteen ships full of the bravest soldiers that they 
 could find. These the King took into his service ; 
 and at the same time went to see the castle which 
 Hengist had built for himself. Being here entertained 
 at a royal banquet, he was waited upon by Hengist's 
 daughter, Rowena, for she had come with the fresh 
 company of warriors, having been sent for by her 
 father. She had come out of her chamber, carrying 
 in her hand a golden cup full of wine. This she offered 
 to the King, making at the same time a low courtesy, 
 and saying, ' Lord King, I will drink your health ! ' 
 Then she drank to his health, and the King also drank 
 to her. Now Rowena was very fair, and the King 
 loved her greatly, so that he would have her father 
 give her to him for wife. This Hengist, by the 
 advice of his lords, consented to do. ' Only,' he said, 
 ' you must give me for her your kingdom of Kent.' 
 This the King consented to do, bringing upon himself 
 thereby great hatred from his nobles and from his 
 three sons, for he had three by his former marriage 
 that were now grown to manhood. 
 
 " And now more and more of the Saxons came from 
 over the sea, the King either inviting them, or at the 
 least suffering them. At this the Britons were so 
 much disturbed that they took away his kingdom 
 from him, and set Vortimer his eldest son to rule in 
 
58 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 his stead. Vortimer was a very brave and skilful 
 soldier, and conquered the heathen in many battles 
 till they were well-nigh driven out of the country. 
 But this worthy Prince was cut off in the flower of 
 his days, for his step-mother Rowena contrived that 
 a draught of poison should be given to him, from 
 which draught he died. 
 
 " When Vortimer was dead, the Britons restored the 
 kingdom to Vortigern, and he, his wife urging him, 
 sent a message to Hengist that he should return to 
 Britain. * Only,' he said, ' come back with a small 
 company of men, lest there should be strife between 
 you and my people.' But Hengist took no heed to 
 this counsel, but brought as great a multitude of men 
 as he could by any means gather together. At this 
 King Vortigern and his people were greatly troubled, 
 and were resolved to oppose them by force of arms. 
 Of this resolve Hengist heard by means of his 
 daughter, and thought how to deceive the Britons 
 and their King. This they did in this fashion. A 
 messenger carne to Vortigern and said, * Hengist 
 has brought all his host with him, thinking that 
 Vortimer was yet alive, and being minded to make 
 himself secure against their attacks. But now that 
 he knows for certain that Vortimer is dead, he submits 
 himself and his people to your arbitration. Cause such 
 as you will to stay, and send such as you will away.' 
 
THE STORY OF VORTIGERN. 59 
 
 " This pleased Vortigern, for being ruled by Rowena 
 his wife, he desired that Hengist should remain in 
 Britain. It was therefore agreed that the chiefs of 
 Britain and the Saxons should meet together at a 
 certain place that is now called Amesbury, for the 
 settling of these matters. But Hengist commanded 
 his followers to hide long knives under their garments, 
 and when he should say the words, ' Draiv your dag- 
 gers ! ' to slay each man his neighbour. Thereupon 
 whilst they were talking together Hengist got hold of 
 Vortigern by the cloak and cried, 'Draw your daggers!^ 
 Thereupon the Saxons fell upon the princes of Britain, 
 who suspected no such thing, and so carried no 
 arms, and slew them to the number of four hundred 
 and sixty. 
 
 " As for Vortigern, Hengist did not slay him, but 
 kept him in prison, nor would release him till he had 
 yielded up as the price of his liberty all the chief and 
 strongest places in Britain. As for this unhappy 
 Prince, when he was released he departed into the 
 western parts of the island, much repenting that he 
 had brought the heathen Saxons into the island of 
 Britain. Nor did he escape due punishment, for 
 Ambrosius, son of Constans, having been anointed 
 King over Britain, sought to avenge upon him his 
 father's death. And this he did, for having found 
 him shut up in a very strong tower, and failing to 
 
6o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 take the place in any other way, set fire to it and 
 consumed it and all that were in it. Thus did 
 Vortigern die." 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 
 
 "You said truly," cried Prince Constantine, when 
 Hoel had brought his tale to an end, " that you had a 
 sad story to tell. Let us now, if the hour be not too 
 late, nor you over weary, hear something of a more 
 cheerful kind. Tell us about the great King Arthur." 
 
 " Most willingly," answered the minstrel ; " were the 
 night altogether spent, and I worn out with weariness, 
 yet I could not refuse to speak of Arthur the Flower 
 of Kings. 
 
 " When Ambrosius, son of Constans, was dead, his 
 brother Uther reigned in his place. When Uther's 
 wife was about to bear him a child, the wise man 
 Merlin, knowing that this child would be a son, and 
 would grow to be a great king that should deliver 
 Britain, prayed the King that the child might be 
 delivered to him so soon as it was born. For he 
 
THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 6i 
 
 knew by his art that this was the best thing that 
 could be done for the child. The babe, therefore, was 
 wrapped in cloth of gold, and delivered by two ladies, 
 to whom the King had given this command, into the 
 hands of Merlin himself, who was standing at the 
 castle-gate in the disguise of a poor man. Merlin 
 carried the babe to a priest, who christened him by 
 the name of Arthur. This done he took him to the 
 house of a certain knight. Sir Hector. Sir Hector's 
 wife nourished him, and there he lived many years, 
 being reckoned as one of Sir Hector's children, for 
 none knew who he was in truth, save only Merlin and 
 the King. 
 
 " Uther, having fought bravely with the Saxons, 
 who all this time were spreading their power more 
 and more over Britain, became so sick that he was 
 ready to die. His knights came to Merlin, and 
 inquired whether there was any remedy for the King's 
 sickness } Merlin made answer — 
 
 " * Remedy there is none ; this sickness is to death. 
 Nevertheless, be ye present all of you to«-morrow, for 
 the King will speak before he die.' 
 
 " So on the morrow all the knights came and stood 
 by the King's bedside. Then Merlin said with a loud 
 voice, ' My lord, is it thy will that thy son Arthur 
 shall be King after thee } ' Uther turned him about, 
 and said in the hearing of them all, ' I will ; the 
 
62 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 blessing of God and my blessing be upon him.' And 
 having said this, he died. 
 
 "The nobles and knights, when they had buried 
 the King, departed each to his own country. Each 
 assembled as many men as he could, desiring to 
 obtain the kingdom for himself, for they said, ' Who 
 is this Arthur of whom the wizard Merlin speaks ? Is 
 he indeed son to King Uther } And even if he be, 
 why should a boy rule over us .? ' So they were 
 divided among themselves, and the Saxons prevailed 
 still more, wasting the land on every side. 
 
 " Seeing this, the chief Bishop in Britain, by Merlin's 
 counsel, called together all the nobles and knights, 
 that they might learn who was ordained of God to be 
 King of Britain. Being gathered together, therefore, 
 they prayed for a sign, and suddenly there was seen 
 before the door of the church a great stone with a 
 sword in the midst of it, and on the sword was written 
 in letters of gold, * Whoso puUeth out the sword from 
 this stone is rightful King of Britain.' Many tried to 
 pull it out,' but none could move it even a. little. 
 Then ten knights were chosen to watch the stone and 
 the sword. 
 
 " After these things a great tournament was held, to 
 which among others came Sir Hector with his eldest 
 son Sir Key, and Arthur also, who passed for Sir 
 Hector's son. It so chanced that Sir Key found that 
 
THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR. 63 
 
 he had come without any sword. Turning, therefore, 
 to his brother Arthur, for such he thought him to be, 
 he said, * I pray thee, fetch me my sword.* So 
 Arthur rode back with all haste to the house, but 
 found it locked. Whereupon he said to himself, ' I 
 will take the sword that is by the church-door, for my 
 brother shall not go without a sword to-day.' So he 
 came to the church. Now the knights that had been 
 set to watch the stone and the sword had gone all of 
 them to the tournament ; so Arthur, knowing nothing 
 of the matter, took the sword by its handle and lightly 
 pulled it from its place. Not once or twice only but 
 many times was this trial made, for the nobles and 
 knights would not believe that this lad was their 
 rightful King. But the end was always the same ; 
 none but Arthur could put the sword back into its 
 place, or pull it therefrom. So at last, with consent 
 of all the people, he was crowned King. 
 
 " And now, being established in his kingdom, he set 
 himself to overthrow the Saxons, who had taken the 
 occasion of the divisions among the people of Britain 
 to advance their power more and more. First he 
 rode with all his hosts to York, where Colgrin the 
 Saxon lay with a great army. With him he fought a 
 great battle, in which many were slain on both sides ; 
 at the last he drove Colgrin into the city and there 
 besieged him. Then came Colgrin's brother Baldulph 
 
64 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 with six thousand men, to help him ; but Arthur fell 
 on him unawares, and scattered his enemies. Never- 
 theless Baldulph made his way into the city, for he 
 shaved his head, and disguised himself as a jester, 
 and so passed through King Arthur's camp, and on 
 
 SAXON WARRIORS. 
 
 coming to the walls, was drawn up by ropes into the 
 city. 
 
 "After a while there came news to the King, as he 
 watched the city, that there had come six hundred 
 ships, and had landed a countless army of Saxons on 
 the eastern coast of Britain. So the King left besieg- 
 ing York, and marched to meet them, having with 
 him his nephew Hoel, King of the Britons that live 
 in Gaul. The Saxons were now besieging Lincoln. 
 
THE STORY OF KING ARTHUR, 65 
 
 There Arthur fell upon them, and after a fierce battle 
 defeated them, killing more than six thousand men. 
 Those that remained fled into a wood that was close 
 by, and there defended themselves bravely. But 
 when the King, having cut down the trees, had made 
 a barricade and so shut them in, they asked for peace. 
 And when they had agreed to give up all the gold 
 and silver that they had, and to sail away in empty 
 ships, promising that they would never return, and 
 giving also hostages for the fulfilment of this promise, 
 the King suffered them to depart. But when they 
 had been but a few hours at sea, they repented them 
 of what they had done. They did not indeed return 
 to the place which they had left, but sailed southward 
 and westward, landing at last in Devonshire. Thence 
 they marched inland, ravaging as they went, till they 
 came to the town of Bath. 
 
 " When the King heard of their falsehood he was 
 very wroth, and swore a great oath that he would not 
 rest till he had driven these deceivers out of Britain. 
 Then he marched with all his forces to Bath'. 
 
 " When he came to the place he dressed himself in 
 his armour. On his head he put a helmet adorned 
 with a dragon of gold ; he girded himself with his 
 sword Excalibur, and in his hand he took the great 
 spear that he called Ron. Having done this he put 
 his men in order, and led them out against the enemy, 
 
66 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 who had taken up their place on the side of Badon 
 Hill. All that day the two armies fought, but the 
 Saxons stood their ground, nor could King Arthur, 
 for all his fierceness, drive them from their place. 
 That night both the hosts lay down upon the hill. 
 
 " The next day the King led his army again to the 
 attack, and this time he drove the Saxons before him 
 till he gained the top of the hill. From that he drove 
 them again down the other side till they were utterly 
 scattered. Thus did King Arthur that day deliver 
 Britain. 
 
 " Of the other things that the King and his knights 
 accomplished, and how at the last he was overcome 
 by treachery, I have not now time to tell, for the 
 night is far spent, and chiefs who have fought as ye 
 fought to-day must sorely need rest." 
 
 So Hoel ended his tale. 
 
 We need not ask how far the minstrel's story was 
 true. Perhaps, like most minstrels' tales, it was half 
 poetry ; but such tales kept alive among the Britons 
 the recollection of the times of confusion which 
 followed the departure of the Romans, and the 
 memory of a great British chief, who stopped for a 
 while the progress of the Saxons in the West of 
 England. 
 
HO IV ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 67 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 
 
 Whatever success the Britons may have had, it 
 did not last very long. The English, Saxons, Jutes, 
 and others — afterwards all called English — came 
 pouring over from the countries about the mouths of 
 the Elbe in North Germany, and the Britons could 
 not stand against these daring sailors and fierce 
 warriors. Fifty years after the battle of Badon Hill 
 the Britons had been driven to the western side of 
 the island, and all the rest of England, and part of 
 the South of Scotland, belonged to the invaders.^ 
 
 The Romans during the latter part of their stay in 
 Britain had become Christians, and the Britons, who 
 
 1 The Britons at this time had Cornwall, Devonshire, and the 
 greater part of Somersetshire and Dorsetshire. This was called 
 West Wales. They had also what we now call Wales, and with 
 it Herefordshire, Monmouthshire, Shropshire, Cheshire, and a 
 small part of the counties of Worcester and Gloucester. This 
 was North Wales, In the North they had Lancashire, the hilly 
 country in North-West Yorkshire, Cumberland, and Westmore- 
 land. This went by the name of Cumbria. 
 
68 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 imitated their masters in everything, were Christian 
 too. But the Engh'sh, Saxons, and Jutes were all 
 heathen, and now the greater part of Britain, which 
 had been Christian, was turned again to heathenism. 
 I must now tell you how these brave heathen were 
 converted. 
 
 In the year of our Lord 572 or thereabouts, 
 Ethelbert, King of Kent, who was the most power- 
 ful prince in the southern parts of England, married 
 a certain Bertha, daughter of the King of Paris. 
 Ethelbert was a heathen, as all the English folk were 
 in those days, but he promised that his wife, being a 
 Christian, should be allowed to worship God in her 
 own way. More than this, he permitted a certain 
 bishop from France to come with her, and he gave 
 them a church in Canterbury, which was the chief 
 town of his dominions. This church had been built 
 by the Romans, before they left the island. 
 
 About eight years after these things happened, a 
 certain Roman named Gregory had his heart wonder- 
 fully turned to the work of preaching the gospel in 
 this country. He was a man of noble birth and of 
 great wealth, and he had founded a monastery in Rome, 
 named after St. Andrew, of which monastery he was 
 himself the abbot or chief. One day, as he walked 
 through the market-place of the city, he saw among 
 the various kinds of merchandise three boys, who 
 
HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN, 69 
 
 were to be sold for slaves. They were of a fair 
 complexion, with long flaxen hair, things to be noted 
 in a country where the folk are mostly dark. Struck 
 with pity for their hard lot, he asked of the slave- 
 merchant from what land they came. 
 
 Slave-Merchant. "From Britain, where all the 
 people have this same fair complexion." 
 
 Gregory, "Are the people of this strange country 
 Christians or Pagans ? " 
 
 Sla ve-M. " They are Pagans." 
 
 Gregor y {heaving a deep sigh). " Sad is it to think 
 that creatures so full of light should be slaves of the 
 Prince of Darkness ! But say, of what nation are they ? " 
 
 Slave-M. '' They ryc Ang/i." 
 
 Gregory. '^Angli/ Rightly are they called A7ig{e)li^ 
 for their faces are as the faces of angels, and they 
 should with the angels be fellow-heirs of the kingdom 
 of heaven. But from what province of this island 
 of Britain do they come ? " 
 
 Slave-M. "From Deira.''^ 
 
 Gregory. "It is well again. They are delivered 
 from the ire of God {de ira = {rom the ire or anger) 
 and called to His mercy. And who is the King of 
 this region ?" 
 
 1 " Deira " was a region of Northern Britain which may be 
 described as being between the Tyne and the Humber. It 
 would include, therefore, Durham and Yorkshire. 
 
70 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Sla ve-M. " Ella is his name." 
 
 Gregory. ''Then Alleluia shall be chanted in his 
 kingdom." 
 
 The abbot went: straight from the market-place to 
 the Bishop of Rome, and begged permission to go 
 and preach the gospel to the inhabitants of this 
 far-away island. The -Bishop granted the request, 
 and Gregory set out. He knew, it would seem, that 
 his going would not be liked by his fellow-citizens. 
 Accordingly, he made his departure as secret as 
 possible. But what he had expected happened. As 
 soon as the people missed him, they burst in upon 
 the Bishop, as he was worshipping in the church of 
 St. Peter, and demanded with loud cries that their 
 beloved Gregory should be given back to them. 
 The Bishop had to yield ; messengers were sent after 
 Gregory, and overtaking him at the end of his third 
 day's journey compelled him to return. 
 
 The good abbot never forgot his purpose of 
 bringing his dear " Angels " to the knowledge of 
 Christ ; but he had to wait a long time before he 
 could carry it out. Ten years after he saw the three 
 fair-haired boys in the market-place, he was himself 
 made Bishop of Rome. That seemed to make the 
 thing more hopeless than ever, for the times were full 
 of trouble, and Gregory had work without end to do 
 at home. Then it seems to have occurred to him, 
 
HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 71 
 
 that what he could not do himself he might do by 
 means of another. Accordingly he chose out forty 
 men from among the monks of his old monastery, 
 and putting the prior/ whose name was Augustine, at 
 their head, sent them to preach in Britain. 
 
 Augustine and his company set out on their 
 journey, but when they got as far as the South of 
 France their hearts failed them. Every one gave 
 them terrible accounts of the Pagans that had come 
 over and conquered the island of Britain. Nowhere, 
 it was said, was there a people so savage and 
 barbarous. The missionaries stopped on their way, 
 and sent their leader Augustine back to Rome, with 
 a petition to Gregory that he would release them 
 from their task. 
 
 Gregory refused to listen. He was one of the 
 men who do not spare themselves any trouble or 
 danger, and expect others to be like themselves. 
 He sent Augustine back with a letter full of ex- 
 hortation. " Do not shrink," he said, " from your 
 duty. Go on, with God to help you. The harder the 
 work, the greater the reward." At the same time he 
 gave them letters to the bishops of France, who were 
 told to give them all the help they could. The 
 company started again, and made their way to the 
 sea-coast. There they provided themselves with 
 1 Next to the abbot 
 
72 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 interpreters who knew the English tongue, and 
 crossing the Channel, landed at Ebbe's Fleet in the 
 Isle of Thanet. 
 
 As soon as they were on shore they sent a 
 messenger to King Ethelbert. They had come, they 
 told him, with good news, news of glory in heaven, 
 
 and of a kingdom that 
 should have no end in the 
 presence of God. 
 
 The King sent back a 
 friendly answer. " I shall 
 be glad to see and talk 
 with you. But do not come 
 for the present beyond the 
 river Stour." ^ 
 
 Though he was thus dis- 
 posed to be friendly with 
 the new-comers, he was 
 greatly afraid of them. He 
 even made a point of not 
 meeting them in any house, 
 but in the open air. Under a roof they might put a 
 magical spell upon him. In the open air, he thought, 
 he would be more safe. Accordingly he arranged 
 
 1 The Stour flows between Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet. 
 Thanet in those days was much more of an island than it is 
 now. 
 
 MONKS BEARING A CROSS. 
 
HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 
 
 73 
 
 that the first meeting should take place under an 
 oak, a tree which his own people held to be sacred. 
 Augustine and his companions came up from the 
 
 ip? 
 
 \ -^x 
 
 SAXON KING IN COUNCIL. 
 
 shore in solemn procession. One attend- 
 ant carried in front a silver cross ; 
 another followed behind holding up a 
 picture, done in colours and gold, of 
 the Crucified Christ. As the mission- 
 aries moved along, they chanted a 
 solemn prayer for themselves and for 
 the people to whom they came to 
 preach. 
 
 Augustine then declared the message 
 which he had to deliver. He could himself speak 
 
74 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 no language but Latin, while the King and his people 
 knew only their own English tongue. But the in- 
 terpreters whom the missionaries had brought with 
 them translated the preacher's words as he went 
 on. Augustine explained the picture, telling his 
 hearers how the Son of the One God in heaven had 
 come down to earth, had died for the sins of a 
 guilty world, and had thus opened the kingdom of 
 heaven to all believers. 
 
 When the preacher had finished, the King made a 
 very friendly answer. ** You promise good things," 
 he said, " but there is much in what you say that I 
 do not understand, nor can I engage to give up at 
 once the customs of my fathers. Nevertheless, you are 
 welcome ; you are free to worship God in your own 
 way; if any of my subjects wish to follow you, I will 
 not hinder them." 
 
 After this the missionaries formed another proces- 
 sion, and again chanting solemn prayers, marched to 
 the royal town of Canterbury, where they took up their 
 abode in dwellings which the King gave over to their 
 use. The more the King heard of their teaching and 
 saw of their holy life, the more moved he was. In the 
 end, before a year had passed from their coming, he 
 declared his conversion. On Whitsunday, the second 
 day of June, in the year 597, he was baptized. His 
 people soon followed his example. On Christmas 
 
HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN 75 
 
 Day in the same year ten thousand converts were 
 baptized in the Swale, at the northern end, where 
 it joins the Medway.^ 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN {continued). 
 
 But how about the " Angels" of Deira, for Deira 
 w^as a long way from Ethelbert's kingdom of 
 Kent ? 
 
 Many years — nearly fifty from the day when the 
 three fair-haired boys stood in the market-place of 
 Rome — were to pass before they heard the good news 
 of the Saviour Christ. King Ella, whose name had 
 made Gregory think of the word Alleluia, died about 
 three years before Augustine came to England. He 
 left a son, Edwin by name, but this son did not 
 succeed him in his kingdom, which was seized by a 
 powerful noble of the land. Edwin had to fly for his 
 life, and took refuge at the court of a certain Red- 
 wald. King of East Anglia. This was more than 
 
 1 The Swale is a channel which divides the Isle of Sheppey 
 from the mainland. The spot is probably near what is now 
 called Queenborongh. 
 
76 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 twenty years after his father's death. Redwald was, 
 in a way, a Christian ; perhaps King Ethelbert, who 
 was his over-lord, had compelled him to make a 
 profession of belief. But he was not single-hearted, 
 for he still kept the temples of the false gods open. 
 The usurping King of Deira sent messengers to 
 Redwald, with promises of reward if he would give up 
 Edwin to him, and threats of war if he should refuse. 
 Redwald was almost persuaded either to kill his guest 
 or to give him up to his enemies. Edwin knew the 
 danger he was in. A friend had told him what the 
 King was thinking of, and had promised to tell him 
 of a safer place of refuge. But Edwin would not 
 listen to him. He said that he did not believe that 
 King Redwald would betray him ; " if he is minded 
 to do so," he went on, " I would sooner die than 
 wander about any more." The friend then left him, 
 and Edwin sat in front of King Redwald's palace till 
 it grew dark, thinking how unhappy he was. Suddenly 
 he became aware that a stranger was standing by 
 
 him ; and looking up he saw a man in a strange 
 
 dress, whose face he did not know. 
 
 " Why sit you here .'' " said the stranger. 
 Edwin. " It matters little where I sit." 
 Stranger. " I know your name, and the cause of 
 
 your trouble. What will you give me if I turn King 
 
 Redwald's heart to befriend you ? " 
 
HO IV ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 77 
 
 Edwin. "All that I have." 
 
 Stranger. "And what, if I give you victory in 
 battle, and the kingdom that is yours of right ? " 
 
 Edwin. " I will give you myself. But who are 
 you ? " 
 
 Stranger. "That cannot yet be known. But 
 remember your promise, when you next feel this 
 sign." 
 
 And the stranger put his hand upon Edwin's head, 
 and so vanished out of his sight. 
 
 Almost at the same moment Edwin's friend came 
 out of the palace, and told him that King Redwald 
 had changed his mind, and was now resolved not to 
 give up his guest, even if by so doing he should 
 bring war upon his kingdom. 
 
 And indeed war did follow. The usurper was 
 defeated, and Edwin came into his father's kingdom 
 of Deira. 
 
 Nine years afterwards, King Edwin sent envoys to 
 Eadbald, son of Ethelbert of Kent, asking for his 
 sister Ethelburga to wife. At first Eadbald would 
 not consent, for Edwin was yet a Pagan. Afterwards, 
 remembering, it may be, how his own mother. Bertha, 
 had helped to bring Ethelbert his father to the faith, 
 he let her go. Only he took Edwin's promise that 
 she should be suffered to worship God according 
 to her conscience, and he sent a certain Paulinus 
 
78 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 with her. This Paulinus had been sent by Gregory 
 some twenty years before to help Augustine. 
 
 The next year Edwin was nearly slain by a mur- 
 derer, sent by the King of Wessex. The man struck 
 at the King with a poisoned dagger, but a faithful 
 servant that was standing by threw himself between, 
 was pierced by the dagger, and so died in his 
 master's stead. So the King escaped, but he well- 
 nigh lost his wife that same day — it was Easter 
 Day in the year 626 — so frightened was she by 
 what had happened to her husband. However, both 
 she and her baby lived. When the King began to 
 thank his gods for this mercy, thinking that it was of 
 their giving, Paulinus told him that it was not so, 
 but of the mercy of the Saviour Christ, to whom he 
 had prayed, he said, for the Queen's life. " Let me 
 punish this wicked King of Wessex," said Edwin, 
 " and I will myself follow Christ." And to show that 
 he meant what he said, he suffered Paulinus to baptize 
 the child. She was christened the next Whitsunday, 
 by the name of Eanfled. 
 
 The King of Wessex was punished for his wicked- 
 ness; but Edwin still delayed to declare himself a 
 Christian. At last Paulinus came to him, and laying 
 his hand upon his head, as the stranger had done ten 
 years before, asked him whether he remembered the 
 sign, and bade him, seeing that he had received all 
 
HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 79 
 
 according to his desire, fulfil his promise. After 
 this Edwin lingered no more ; only he would call 
 a council of his chiefs, and lay the thing before 
 them, so that, if it might be, all the nation might 
 turn to the true God and to His Christ, together 
 with their King. So the priests and nobles met in 
 council. 
 
 First there rose in the assembly one .Coifi, who was 
 the chief of the priests, and spake in this fashion : 
 " The gods to whom we give our prayers and our 
 sacrifices give us, it seems to me, nothing in return. 
 No one of all the people has been more diligent 
 in worship than I, yet many have been more happy 
 and more prosperous. If this new doctrine promises 
 us more, I say that we should follow it." 
 
 After him rose another, an ancient chief, and said : 
 "The soul of man, O King, seems to me like unto 
 a bird that flies into some room where you and your 
 lords are sitting at supper. Out of the darkness it 
 flies, and for a brief space sees the light and feels the 
 warmth, then it passes into the darkness again and is 
 seen no more. So it is with the soul. It comes out 
 of the dark, we know not whence ; for a few years 
 it tarries among the things we know ; then it goes 
 again into the dark, we know not whither. If the 
 new doctrin-e gives us light about the things unseen, 
 I will leave all to follow it." 
 
8o 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 At last the King said, "Who will profane the 
 temples of the gods ? " 
 
 Coifi the priest answered, " None is fitter for this task 
 than I, who have served them these many years." 
 
 Then he mounted a horse, and took a spear in his 
 
 SAXON KING AND HIS RETINUE. 
 
 hand — both things unlawful for a priest — and tilting 
 at the idol of the chief temple overthrew it. 
 
 On Easter Day in the year following King Edwin 
 was baptized, and multitudes of the people followed 
 him, till it seemed as if all Deira and the rest of the 
 North country was turned to Christ. 
 
HOW ENGLAND BECAME CHRISTIAN. 8i 
 
 But there was trouble to come. Penda. Kinp- of 
 Mercia, who was a heathen, leagued himself with a 
 British king, and these two meeting Edwin in battle, 
 overthrew him and slew him. Then all the land 
 seemed to turn away from the faith of Christ and 
 to become heathen again. As for Paulinus, he fled to 
 Kent by sea, taking with him Queen Ethelburga and 
 her children. 
 
 But the light was not put out for long. Only 
 when it began to shine again, it came from another 
 place. The year after Edwin's death, Oswald, son of 
 that same usurper whom Redwald and Edwin had 
 overcome and slain, came back to his father's 
 kingdom. He had been an exile in Scotland for 
 these seventeen years, and had there learnt to follow 
 the Christian faith. He sent therefore for some one 
 who should teach his people. First came a certain 
 Cormac, but he was a man of a harsh temper, and 
 could do nothing. Going back to those that sent 
 him, he said, '' These English are so stubborn and 
 barbarous that it is useless to teach them." "Nay," 
 said one of those that heard him, Aidan by name, 
 "you did not follow the Apostles' command, and 
 feed the babes with milk, but would give them strong 
 meat, which they could not bear." Aidan, therefore, 
 was sent in his place, and with the help of King 
 Oswald brought again all the North country to 
 
82 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the faith of Christ. So, after some sixty years, 
 Gregory's hopes for the " Angels " of Deira were 
 accompHshed. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 KING ALFRED. 
 
 We have heard in the last two chapters of several 
 kingdoms, Kent, for instance, Deira, East Anglia, 
 Mercia, Wessex. There were others which I need 
 not name, two or even three more, so that this time, 
 roughly the two hundred and fifty years between 577 
 and 827, has been called the " Time of the Seven 
 Kingdoms," or the "Time of the Eight Kingdoms." 
 But there never were eight or even seven kingdoms 
 at once. One rose and another fell. But in 823 
 Egbert, King of Wessex, made himself over-lord over 
 all the kingdoms of England ; we may say, in fact, 
 that he v/as King of England. He died in 836, but 
 before the end of his reign the Danes, people from 
 Denmark Norway, and Sweden, began to come into 
 England, and to fight against the English, just as the 
 English had come and fought against the Britons. 
 King Alfred, whose story I have now to tell you, 
 was a great defender of England against the Danes. 
 
KING ALFRED. 83 
 
 Alfred was the youngest of the four sons of King 
 Ethelwulf, the son of Egbert. Of all the sons he was 
 the most fair to look at, and the most gracious in 
 speech and act, and the most obedient to his elders. He 
 was strong of body, though troubled to the end of his 
 life with frequent sickness, and skilful in the use of 
 arms, and in hunting. It happened by some chance 
 that he was never taught to read. Teachers were few 
 in those days, and the times were full of trouble ; yet 
 he would listen to the minstrels and others when they 
 sang or repeated poems, and this with so much 
 attention that though he had read nothing he could 
 remember much. At last he learnt to read, and in 
 this way. When he was about thirteen years old his 
 mother ^ showed to him and his brothers a book of 
 poetry which she had in her hand and said, " I will 
 give this book to him who shall most quickly learn 
 it." These words greatly moved him, especially as he 
 was much delighted by the beauty of the first letter, 
 which was finely painted in colours and gold. " Will 
 you really give this book," he said to his mother, " to 
 him who will soonest understand it and repeat it to 
 you } " She was glad to hear him speak in this way, 
 for before she thought that he did not care to learn. 
 "Yes," she said, "I will give it." So the young 
 
 1 Not his own mother, but Judith, daughter of Charles the 
 Bald of France, Ethelwulf s second wife. 
 
84 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Alfred took the book, and did actually learn to read 
 it, and to repeat it. The man who tells this story 
 was a Welshman, Asser by name, who had been 
 brought up in the school which was kept by the 
 
 DANISH WARRIORS. 
 
 monks of St. David's. He was a friend of Alfred's, 
 and wrote, for the most part, of his own knowledge. 
 Among other things, he tells us how Alfred used to 
 lament that when he was young and had both time 
 and ability to learn, he could find no teachers, and 
 
KING ALFRED. 85 
 
 that afterwards he was so much troubled by frequent 
 sickness, and by the cares of his kingdom, and by 
 continual attacks from the heathen, that is to say the 
 Danes, that he could find no leisure. Nevertheless it 
 is true that he both read and wrote more than any of 
 the kings that were before him or that came after him. 
 
 The Danes gave the English folk but little peace 
 in those days. When Alfred was twenty years old — 
 it was the very year in which he married his wife 
 Alcswith, a noble lady of East Anglia — they came 
 to Nottingham, which was one of the chief towns of 
 Mercia, and took it, whereupon the King of Mercia 
 sent to King Ethelred praying for help. This the 
 King willingly gave, marching thither with a great 
 army of West Saxons, and Alfred, who was his brother, 
 went with him. The Danes would not come forth 
 from the town to fight, nor were the English able to 
 break down the wall. So peace was made, and the 
 two brothers returned to their own country. 
 
 A year or so afterwards there was a great slaughter 
 of the English in the East country. Edmund, who 
 was King of those parts under Ethelred, fought against 
 the Danes, and was defeated, and many of his people 
 were slain. When the day was lost, the King, having 
 escaped from the field, hid himself under a bridge. But 
 one passing by espied him, for his spurs, which were of 
 gold, shone in the moonlight ; so he was taken to the 
 
86 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 camp of the Danes. And the chiefs of the heathen 
 would have given him his hfe and kingdom if he would 
 deny his Lord Christ. The King, refusing, was first 
 scourged, and then set up as a mark for the archers to 
 shoot at, and so died. The place where he suffered 
 for his faith is called St. Edmundsbury to this day, 
 and his name is remembered on the 20th day of 
 
 THE MARTYRDOM OF KING EDMUND. 
 
 November in every year. These things happened 
 when Alfred was twenty-two years of age. 
 
 In the year following the heathen came into the 
 West country and took the town of Reading, from 
 which one part of their army went forth to plunder 
 the land, while another built for defence a great 
 rampart between the Thames and the Kennet, for the 
 Kennet flows through Reading town. Three times 
 
KING ALFRED. 87 
 
 within the space of ten days did the Englishmen and 
 the Danes fight together. The first battle was at 
 Englefield;^ there a certain Ethelwulf, who was Alder- 
 man of Berkshire, led the Englishmen and won a great 
 victory, slaying one of the Danish earls and the greater 
 part of their army. Four days afterwards the second 
 battle was fought hard by Reading town ; the King 
 was there, and Alfred, and the Alderman. First the 
 English had the better, slaying such of the heathen as 
 they found outside the walls ; but when those that 
 were within sallied forth, then the English fled, and 
 many were slain, and among them the Alderman. 
 And again, after four days, there was yet a third 
 battle. The Danes had made for themselves a camp 
 on the top of a hill that was named Ashdown, or 
 the Hill of the Ash.^ By this time many of their 
 countrymen from other parts had joined them, so 
 that now they had a very great army, with two kings 
 and many earls to lead them. The kings were with 
 one part of the army, and the earls v/ith the other. 
 On the other hand, the English also divided their 
 army into two parts ; one of these was led by King 
 
 ^ Near the borders of Berkshire and Surrey, about twenty miles 
 from Reading. 
 
 2 Near Lambourn, and between twenty and thirty miles west 
 of Reading. The names of several places in the neighbourhood 
 recall the event, as Ashbury, Ashdown Park, Alfred's Castle, 
 Dragon Hill. 
 
88 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Ethelred and the other by Alfred. The English 
 were on the lower ground, and marched up the hill to 
 attack the Danes, Alfred leading the way, for the King 
 tarried long in his tent till the priest had finished 
 saying mass. Then the Danes came out of their 
 camp to meet them, and there was a fierce battle, 
 more especially round a certain stunted thorn, which 
 Asser, who tells the story, says he had seen with his 
 own eyes. At last the Englishmen won the day ; one 
 of the kings was slain, and five earls, and all the hill 
 was covered with dead bodies. As for them that were 
 left, they fled to their stronghold at Reading, the 
 English pursuing them and slaying them on the way 
 till it was dark. Nevertheless the Danes gathered 
 together another army within fourteen days after this 
 battle of Ashdown, and fought with Ethelred and 
 Alfred near to Basing,^ and won a victory over them. 
 After Easter in this year Ethelred died, and Alfred 
 became king in his stead, being then twenty-three 
 years of age. Nor had he been king for more than a 
 month when he had to fight with his enemies again. 
 This time also he was beaten. Nor was this the end. 
 Ten battles in all did he fight — so say the chroniclers 
 — in this first year of his reign. 
 
 After this the land had rest for a while. For 
 Alfred, seeing that he could not stand against the 
 
 ^ In Hampshire, about twelve miles south from Reading, 
 
KING ALFRED. 89 
 
 Danes, and that his people were worn out by war 
 and other troubles, made peace with his enemies. 
 They made an agreement with him that they would 
 not come again into his kingdom. Doubtless he 
 persuaded them so far by giving them money. How- 
 ever this may be, there was peace in the land for four 
 years. Then the troubles began again, and increased 
 year by year till, when Alfred was twenty-nine years 
 old, they came to their height. The Danes sailed up 
 the Severn with a fleet carrying a great army of men, 
 till they came to the town of Gloucester. There they 
 landed, and marching across Gloucestershire and 
 Wiltshire came to Chippenham. So strong were 
 they, that the King could not even gather an army 
 to meet them. Some of the English fled over the 
 sea to France ; most of them submitted themselves to 
 the invaders. Only Alfred himself was left with a 
 few of his nobles. With these he fled far into the 
 West country, to a place between the two rivers 
 Parret and Tone3 It was an island in those days, 
 and men called it the " Isle of the Nobles," ^ because 
 Alfred's companions, though they were of noble birth, 
 worked with spade and pickaxe to fortify the place. 
 
 ^ In Somersetshire, about seven miles from Taunton. 
 
 2 Athelinga Eigge, now shortened into Athelney. Atheling 
 we have in the title "Edgar the Atheling." Eigge is first 
 found in the word " eyot," the name given to an island in the 
 Thames and other rivers. 
 
90 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 There he abode with his few faithful followers for a 
 year. 
 
 The island itself did not furnish food sufficient for 
 the King and his company, so that they were con- 
 strained to seek it from the country round about. 
 On one of his journeys, Alfred took shelter in the 
 house of a certain cowherd. The cowherd's wife 
 was baking cakes on the fire, while the King sat by 
 the hearth mending his bows and arrows. While she 
 was busy about other matters, the cakes began to 
 burn, the King taking no heed of them. Then the 
 woman turned and rebuked him — 
 
 " Ca'sn thee mind the ke-aks, mon, an' doossen zee 'em burn ? 
 I'm boun thee 's eat 'em vast enousrh, az zoon az tiz tha 
 
 turn."i 
 
 t>*'j 
 
 At the year's end, Alfred felt that the time was 
 come to make a struggle for freedom. The men of 
 three shires, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, and Hampshire, 
 met together at a place called Egbert's Stone.^ 
 
 Two days afterwards a great battle was fought, 
 and the Danes were beaten. Many were slain on 
 the field ; the rest fled into a fort which they had 
 made. Then Alfred besieged them, keeping them so 
 close that at the end of fourteen days they asked 
 
 1 Asser gives the words in Latin ; Dr. Giles translates them 
 then into the Somersetshire dialect. 
 
 2 Probably in Wiltshire. 
 
KING ALFRED. 91 
 
 for peace. The conditions of peace were these — 
 " Guthrum, the leader of the Danes, was to become a 
 Christian, and his chief nobles with him. The Danes 
 were to depart from Alfred's dominion, but they were 
 to have a large region in East Anglia for their own. 
 For the time to come, the two nations were to live 
 together as friends, and to be governed by equal laws." 
 These conditions were fulfilled. King Guthrum and 
 thirty men, who were the chief nobles of the army, 
 were baptized. For the King, Alfred himself stood 
 god-father, calling him Athelstan. Then there was a 
 time of peace. Eight years afterwards there was 
 another war, and Guthrum made a treaty by which 
 he gave up London. 
 
 What King Alfred did for his people during this 
 quiet time it would take long to tell ; nor indeed do 
 we know all for certain. He made good that which 
 the Danes had destroyed. He caused the roads to be 
 restored, and the bridges that had been broken down 
 to be built again. Towns and cities that had been 
 wasted by war he repaired, and caused the fields to 
 be cultivated again. The laws that the kings before 
 him had made, he considered with care, keeping such 
 as seemed to him to be wise, and rejecting such as 
 were not good. He built or restored many churches, 
 and put clergy into them that they might teach the 
 people. And because there were no learned men 
 
92 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 in his own kingdom, he brought such from other 
 countries. Not a few books did he write with his 
 own hand, for all the cares of his kingdom could not 
 hinder him from study. Nor did he forget to provide, 
 so far as it was possible, for the better defence of the 
 kingdom. He took care that when the people were 
 called together to fight against an enemy, they should 
 do so quickly and in good order ; and he built better 
 and swifter ships of war than had ever been known in 
 England before. 
 
 For the last eight years of his reign, the King had 
 to fight many battles both by land and sea with his 
 old enemies. But he had done so much in making 
 both his soldiers and his ships better, that not once 
 did he fail to overcome his enemies. And the kings 
 that came after him, Edward the Elder, who was his 
 son, and Athelstan his grandson, continued with even 
 more success to drive back the Danish invaders. 
 Alfred died "six nights before All-Hallow Mass," 
 that was on October 26, in the year 901 (All-Hallow 
 Mass is All Saints' Day), worn out with toil and sick- 
 ness. All his life he had suffered grievously in his 
 body. He was but fifty-two years of age. 
 
no IV ATHELSTAN FOUGHT AT BRUNANBURGH. 93 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 HOW KING ATHELSTAN FOUGHT AT 
 BRUNANBURGH. 
 
 Edward, surnamed the Elder, came after Alfred 
 his father, and was — so men said — as good a leader in 
 war and ruler in peace ; and after Edward came 
 Athelstan his son. To him his grandfather Alfred 
 had showed special favour, giving him a purple cloak, 
 and a belt adorned with jewels, and a sword in a 
 scabbard of gold. And when he grew to be a man, 
 and was crowned king — this was done when he was 
 thirty years old — he showed himself a very wise ruler. 
 None of the kings before him had been so great, for 
 all the land, both English and Welsh, acknowledged 
 him to be their over-lord. 
 
 But in the thirteenth year of his reign, the Danes, 
 the Scots, and the Britons made a great league 
 against him. Their leaders were Constantine, King 
 of Scots, Anlaf the Dane, whose father had been 
 King in Northumbria, Olaf, also a Dane, King of 
 Dublin — for the Danes held Dublin in those days, and 
 
94 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 for many years afterwards — the King of Cumber- 
 land, and not a few English who were discontented 
 with their master. All these gathered a vast host in 
 the north, and thither King Athelstan marched to 
 meet them. 
 
 While the armies lay, encamped over against each 
 other, Anlaf the Northum- 
 brian, seeking to know what 
 Athelstan proposed to do, 
 disguised himself as a min- 
 strel, and so made his way 
 into the tent of the King. 
 There he played and sang, 
 while Athelstan and his 
 nobles sat at their meal, and 
 while he seemed to be resting 
 from his playing and singing, 
 he listened to their talk. The 
 meal ended, the King gave 
 him a silver piece. This he 
 buried in the earth, disdaining 
 to keep that which had been 
 given him as hire for service. But one who had 
 been a soldier under him in former times, saw the 
 Prince while he was burying the money, and knew 
 him again. The man kept silence till Anlaf had 
 gone back to his own camp, then he told the English 
 
 A MINSTREL. 
 
HO IV ATHELSTAN FOUGHT AT BRUNANBURGH, 95 
 
 King what he had seen. " Why did you delay ? " 
 said the King. " Had you been quicker, we had 
 caught him." The man made answer, " Sire, the 
 same oath that I have sworn to you, I swore once 
 to Anlaf. If I had betrayed him, you might have 
 looked for me to betray you. But now, if you will 
 listen to my advice, change the place of your tent." 
 The King changed it, and it was well that he did so, 
 for the camp was attacked that night, and a certain 
 bishop, who, being newly come thither, pitched his 
 tent in the place where the King's had been, was 
 slain. 
 
 For two days more King Athelstan waited till the 
 help that he looked for had come up. Then he gave 
 battle to the enemy. Never, since the coming of the 
 English into Britain, had there been a fiercer fight 
 than was fought that day. The men of Mercia and 
 the men of the West Saxons stood side by side, and 
 turned the enemy to flight. Five kings of the North- 
 men and seven earls fell that day, and Constantine 
 fled back to his own country, and the Danes from 
 Dublin, such as the sword had spared, crossed the sea 
 again. 
 
 " Full many a stalwart warrior lay 
 Upon the field of death that day, 
 By swarthy kite devoured, and torn 
 By raven with its beak of horn, 
 
96 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 And lordly eagle, plumaged white, 
 And hawk that follows still the fight, 
 And the grey wolf, whom evening brings 
 From forest depths to feed on kings." 
 
 After this King Athelstan increased still more in 
 honour and power. He ruled his people also with 
 much prudence, making many wise laws. He caused 
 justice to be done without fear between men, and 
 made provision for the poor. 
 
 In the year 941 he died, being then forty-six 
 years of age, and was buried in the Abbey of Malmes- 
 bury, to which abbe}', as to the town of Malmesbu'ry, 
 he had given great gifts. To this day, the " com- 
 moners " of this place enjoy certain lands which the 
 King bestowed upon the townsmen for services that 
 they rendered him in his wars. 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 
 
 Nearly forty years after the death of the brave 
 Athelstan, the kingdom of England came to a boy 
 whose name was Ethelred. He was but ten years 
 old when he became king, and during all his reign he 
 
THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 97 
 
 and his people were in great trouble. So ill did he 
 rule that men called him the " Unready." ^ Every 
 year the Danes grew more and more powerful. 
 Sometimes the King tried to drive them out of 
 England by force of arms, but he was often defeated. 
 Sometimes he bribed them by large sums of money 
 to go away. They took the money and went away, 
 but very soon came back again. At last he tried 
 what was the very worst and most wicked way of all. 
 He sent secretly to the rulers and magistrates 
 throughout the kingdom that on a certain day — it 
 was the 13th day of November in the year 1002 — 
 "all the Danish men in England should be slain." 
 These Danish men were living in peace among the 
 English ; many of them had married English wives. 
 On the morning of this day this evil deed was done ; 
 all indeed were not killed, but many thousands were, 
 and women also, and among these the sister of King 
 Sweyn of Denmark. The last thing that this lady 
 said was this : " My death zvill bring many wars upon 
 England!^ And so indeed it came to pass. 
 
 Year after year the Danes came and ravaged the 
 land. Sometimes King Sweyn came with them, 
 
 ^ Unready does not mean what the word would mean now — 
 not ready to do what he had to do at the right time — but with- 
 out counsel or purpose ; that is, often changing his mind, and 
 not keeping one thing steadily before him. 
 
 H 
 
98 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 sometimes he sent other chiefs. At last, eleven years 
 after the death of his sister, he came with a fleet 
 greater and more splendid than had ever been seen 
 before. The beaks of the ships were of brass, and 
 under the beaks were figure-heads, finely carved and 
 painted, of men and bulls and dolphins. On the 
 mast-heads were figures of birds and dragons to serve 
 for weathercocks, and the sterns were adorned with 
 golden lions. The King brought with him his son 
 Canute, of whom I am to tell in this story,^ 
 
 For six months or more King Sweyn went through 
 the land with his army, doing such damage as no 
 army had ever done before. The English could not 
 stand up against him ; as for King Ethelred, he fled 
 over the sea to France. Sweyn indeed was King of 
 England, but the crown was never put upon his head, 
 for on Candlemas Day he died suddenly. Of the 
 manner of his death the men of the time told this 
 story. I have spoken before of a certain town in the 
 East country which was called St. Edmundsbury,^ 
 after King Edmund. There had been built in the 
 town a house for monks, in honour of the King. 
 Sweyn sent messengers to say that he would burn 
 both the town and the monks' house with fire, and 
 
 ^ His name is properly spelt Cnut. The Pope, it is said, 
 could not pronounce this word, and changed it into Canutus. 
 2 For the story of St. Edmund, see pp. 85, 86. 
 
 >« J 
 
THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 99 
 
 slay all their inhabitants, unless he should receive 
 a great ransom for their lives. And when the people 
 of the town sent to the King at Gainsborough, in 
 the county of Lincoln, praying that he would not 
 ask so great a sum of money, for that they were 
 not able to pay it, he said the same things again 
 with greater violence. When he had spoken, it 
 seemed to him that King Edmund suddenly ap- 
 peared in the midst of the council, no man seeing 
 him except himself, and that he thrust him through 
 with a spear of gold that he carried in his hand. 
 Men said also that before he died he sent for his 
 son Canute, and bade him rule England prudently 
 and justly. 
 
 The Danes chose Canute to be King, but the 
 English were not content that a foreigner should 
 reign over them, and sending to Ethelred, where he 
 was in France, prayed him to come back. So Ethel- 
 red returned, and marching into the East country 
 where Canute still was, compelled him to take to his 
 ships and sail away. The next year he came back 
 with more ships and men than before, and there was 
 war again till Ethelred died. Thereupon Canute 
 was crowned King by command of an assembly that 
 met at Southampton, but Ethelred's son, Edmund, 
 who was called Ironside by reason of his valour, was 
 also crowned in London. 
 
loo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 Canute sailed up the Thames, having a fleet of 
 more than three hundred ships. When he came to 
 London he found that he could not pass the bridge,^ 
 so strongly was it held against him. Thereupon he 
 caused a canal to be dug on the south side of the 
 river, and by this took some of his ships to the other 
 side of the bridge. But when he tried to take the 
 town, the citizens beat him back from the walls, 
 killing many of his men. 
 
 After this the two Kings met in battle at Sherston.^ 
 Edmund put his best and bravest warriors in the 
 front line, and he himself took his place in front of 
 all, for none was better or braver than he. All day 
 long the two armies fought, neither winning the 
 victory. That night they rested on the field of battle, 
 and on the morrow, when the day dawned, they 
 fought again. And now the English began to drive 
 back their enemies, when there went through the 
 army the report that King Edmund had been slain. 
 It was a traitor that set the report about. When 
 King Edmund heard it, he mounted to the top of a 
 hill, and taking off his helmet, showed himself to the 
 people, that they might see that he was yet alive. 
 It is said also that seeing the traitor who had first 
 
 1 There was then but one bridge over the river. Probably it 
 stood at the same place where London Bridge now is. 
 '-^ In Wiltshire, near Malmesbury. 
 
THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. loi 
 
 told the false news, he threw his spear at him. He 
 indeed warded it off with his shield, but it pierced 
 the man that stood by his side, and wounded two 
 others also, so great was the strength of the Iron- 
 side. 
 
 Seven times in that year did Edmund fight with 
 Canute, and the last and fiercest fight of all was at 
 Assandun. Canute made as if he would get to his 
 ships, and Edmund seeing this charged him sword 
 in hand at the head of his men. And now again 
 the English might have won the day, but that a 
 traitor, the very same that had spread the false 
 report of the King's death, fled from the battle with 
 his followers. So their line was broken ; nevertheless 
 they still held out, even till the end of the day, and 
 till far into the night. Then at last Edmund the 
 Ironside was constrained to leave the field. That day 
 the flower of the English race perished. 
 
 Even so King Edmund did not lose heart. He 
 gathered together another army, and would have 
 fought again, but that all the land was weary of the 
 war. So these two, Canute and Edmund, met on 
 an island in the Severn, and agreed to divide the 
 kingdom between them ; Edmund was to rule the 
 South, Canute the North. But before the year was 
 out King Edmund died, some said of poison, and the 
 whole kingdom came to Canute, for it had been 
 
I02 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 agreed that whoever of the two should Hve the longer, 
 should have the whole. 
 
 And now Canute the Dane set himself with all 
 
 KING CANUTE AND HIS QUEEN. 
 
 his heart to become a true English king. The 
 traitor that had played King Edmund false was 
 rightly punished for his wrong-doing. It is said that 
 he even boasted to the King that he had not only 
 
THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 103 
 
 deserted Edmund in the hour of need, but had also 
 slain him. Thereupon the King cried out, " Therefore 
 you shall die, for you are guilty of treason both to God 
 and to 7ner And the traitor was slain. When Canute 
 was crowned King, he swore that he would do justice 
 between man and man, and that he would himself be 
 obedient to the laws. And this he did. So, when in 
 a fit of rage he slew with his own hand one of the 
 "house-carles,"^ he declared that he would pay the 
 fine that was set on the shedding of blood. In those 
 days when a man was slain, the slayer paid a fine 
 according to the rank of the man. So the King said 
 to the house-carles, " Say what fine I must pay for 
 the killing of your comrade." And when they, fear- 
 ing to judge the King, would not say, he fixed the 
 fine for himself, making it nine times greater than 
 what it should have been of right. And what the 
 King did for himself, that he commanded all that 
 were in authority under him to do for others. The 
 poor were to be protected against the wrong-doing 
 of the rich ; all men were to be judged justly but 
 with mercy ; above all. Englishmen and Danes were 
 to live at peace with each other, forgetting all grudges 
 and injuries. 
 
 And as he did his duty to man, so he did it also to 
 
 1 The " house-carles " were the King's body-guard. For more 
 about them, see p. 116. 
 
I04 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 God, judging that it was from Him that he had his 
 kingdom ; this he showed in the manner that I will 
 now tell. On a certain day, when he was at the very 
 height of his power, he commanded that they should 
 set his royal chair on the sea-shore. On this he sat, 
 his courtiers standing about him. Then he spoke to 
 the tide as it flowed, " Thou art my subject, and this 
 land on which I have set my chair is mine ; never 
 hath there been any one that refused to obey my 
 bidding, and having so refused, escaped without 
 punishment. I command thee therefore that thou 
 come no further on to my land, and that thou pre- 
 sume not to wet the garments and limbs of thy lord." 
 And when the tide, rising after its wont, came up and 
 had no respect to the King's command, but wetted 
 his feet and his legs, then the King, leaping from 
 his seat, cried aloud, ** Let all men know henceforth 
 that the power of kings is an empty and foolish 
 thing, and that no one is in very truth worthy to bear 
 this name of King, saving Him only whose bidding 
 the earth and the sea and all that in them is obey 
 according to everlasting laws." After that day 
 Canute would never again put his crown upon his 
 head, but put it on the image of the crucified Christ. 
 
 The King greatly honoured the clergy, and gave 
 great gifts to churches and abbeys. At Assandun, 
 where he vanquished King Edmund, he caused a 
 
THE STORY OF KING CANUTE. 105 
 
 church to be built, that was notable for being built of 
 stone, for in those days they were mostly built of 
 wood. On the church of St. Edmund and on many 
 others he and his Queen Emma bestowed much 
 wealth. Among these was the great Church or 
 Cathedral of Ely. They say that one day as he 
 was passing in his boat by this church he made these 
 verses that follow — 
 
 " The Ely monks sang clear and high, 
 As King Canute was passing by ; 
 ' Row near the doors and hear them sing,' 
 Cried to his knights Canute the King." 
 
 Minstrels he loved greatly, and rewarded with gener- 
 ous gifts, as will be seen from this story. Among 
 those who came to his Court was a certain man from 
 Iceland, where in those days poetry and learning 
 greatly flourished. When the King came into the hall 
 he said, " I see one here who is not of this country ; 
 he has the look of a poet, yes, and of a fighter too, for 
 I would sooner have him as my comrade in battle 
 than any other man here." When the minstrel from 
 Iceland heard these words he sang these verses — 
 
 " To Cnut the Dane I tune my lay ; 
 English and Irish own his sway, 
 And many an island in the sea ; 
 So let us sing his praise that he 
 Be known of men in every land 
 To where heaven's lofty pillars stand." 
 
io6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 This done he said to the King, " Suffer me to 
 speak a poem that I have made in your honour." 
 "You shall," said the King, "at our next meeting." 
 So the next day there was a great gathering. When 
 the poet from Iceland repeated his poem, the King 
 highly praised it, then he took off from his head a 
 Russian cap that he wore ; it was broidered with 
 gold, and had golden knots to it. " Fill this with 
 silver," said he to his Chamberlain, " and give it to the 
 poet." This the Chamberlain would have done, but 
 because there was a great crowd of men, he had to 
 reach it over their shoulders. So the silver was 
 turned out of the cap on to the floor. But when the 
 poet stooped to pick it up, the King said, " Let it 
 be ; the poor will be the better for it, and thou shalt 
 not lose." 
 
 King Canute died when he was but little more 
 than forty years old. His subjects greatly lamented 
 him, for never was a king who better kept his oath 
 to deal truly with his people. After him came his 
 two sons, Harold and Hardicanute, both of them men 
 of little worth ; after them Edward, who was called 
 the Confessor ; he was son of Ethelred. 
 
HAROLD THE EARL. 107 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 HAROLD THE EARL. 
 
 Godwin, son of Wulfnoth, was a great man in the 
 days of King Canute and of King Edward. Six 
 sons he had, and a daughter that was married to 
 King Edward, and of these sons the second in age 
 was Harold. This Harold was made Earl of East 
 Anglia when he was twenty-four years of age ; his 
 brothers also had Earldoms, so that Godwin and his 
 sons between them ruled three fourth-parts of the 
 realm of England. But after six years they fell 
 under the displeasure of King Edward, for they were 
 against the Normans, for whom the King had a great 
 favour. As for Harold, he fled to Ireland with his 
 brother Leofwine. Thence he came in the year after 
 with a fleet, and landing at Porlock, which is in the 
 county of Somerset, fought and won a battle with the 
 people of the country. Thirty thanes, for so they 
 called knights in those days, were slain, and a multi- 
 tude of common men. Thence Harold, with whom 
 went Leofwine, sailed to the Isle of Wight, where he 
 
io8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 found Earl Godwin, his father. Thence the three 
 sailed eastward to Kent, and from Kent up the 
 Thames to London. They lay with their ships on 
 the south side of the river, and on the north side were 
 King Edward's men. Earl Godwin sent an embassy 
 to ask that he and his sons should be suffered to 
 return. For a while the King said No, the Normans 
 about him so advising, but when it was manifest that 
 the people would have the Earl and his sons come 
 back, he yielded, and the Normans fled for their lives. 
 
 Thus Harold got his Earldom again, and in the 
 year after, his father dying suddenly, the Earldom 
 of Wessex. So he grew in power and in favour 
 with the King and people. A great warrior he was, 
 and tall and strong, a comely person, and of gentle 
 manners. 
 
 But, after a while, he had an unlucky adventure 
 which brought him in the end great trouble. He 
 took sail with certain companions, being minded, it 
 would seem — for he had his dogs and hawks with him 
 — to have some sport in hunting. When he had been 
 a short time at sea — it was from some port in the 
 English Channel that he had sailed — a storm began 
 to blow, and cast his ship on the coast of France, 
 near to the castle of a certain Count Guy. One of 
 the fishermen of the place chanced to know him. 
 This man went to the Count Guy, and said to him, 
 
HAROLD THE EARL. 109 
 
 "Give me twenty pounds, and I will show you a 
 prisoner who will pay you willingly twenty pounds 
 for his ransom/' Thereupon the Count rode with all 
 haste to the coast, and caused Harold and his com- 
 panions to be seized and carried to a castle that he 
 had some miles distant from the sea. But one of 
 the men that waited on Harold escaped, and flying 
 to William, Duke of Normandy, told him the whole 
 matter, which William, for certain reasons of his own, 
 was right glad to hear. 
 
 William, as will be seen from what is said of him 
 in another place, was set on winning the kingdom of 
 England for himself, and he thought it a most 
 fortunate thing that chance should have put the Earl 
 Harold within his reach, for there was not a man 
 more likely to be chosen King than he. He sent, 
 therefore, with all haste to the Count, commanding 
 him to bring the English prisoner that he had taken. 
 This the Count, who was not a little afraid of Duke 
 William, did without delay, and receiving as much as 
 he had hoped to get by way of ransom, was well 
 content. As for Harold, it was a bad exchange for 
 him, for, as will be seen, he was likely to pay more 
 for his liberty than he would have paid to Count 
 Guy. The Duke indeed showed much hospitality to 
 him, taking him as his companion when he went a- 
 hunting, and on an expedition that he made about 
 
no STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 this time against the people of Brittany. There was 
 no better entertainment that one man could give to 
 another in those days than to give him a part in some 
 fighting. But when Harold was wishful to go home, 
 then Duke William showed what was in his mind. 
 " I shall not let you go," he said, "till you have sworn 
 to be my man, to help me to the best of your power 
 so long as King Edward shall live, and to acknowledge 
 me as King of England when King Edward shall 
 die." This and other things Harold promised, not 
 seeing in what other way he could get his liberty, 
 and judging doubtless that a promise made under 
 compulsion does not bind him that makes it. But 
 the Duke, not forgetting that Harold might so excuse 
 himself, required that he should confirm his promise 
 by an oath. This Harold did not refuse to do. He 
 laid his hand upon a book of the Gospels that had 
 been set on what seemed to be a table, and swore 
 that he would abide faithfully by his word. But 
 when he had so sworn, the Duke uncovered that on 
 which the book had lain, and lo ! it was a chest full 
 of the bones of saints and such-like things. Then 
 Harold, it is said, turned pale and trembled, seeing 
 what he had done without knowing.^ 
 
 * " Whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth 
 the gold?" (St. Matt, xxiii. 17). It was the Gospel that made 
 the saints what they were. So we judge, but the men of those 
 times thought differently about such matters. 
 
HAROLD THE EARL. in 
 
 Not many months after this Harold had another 
 great trouble, this time with one of his own house. 
 Tostig, the brother that was next to him in age, had 
 for some ten years or more been Earl of Northumbria. 
 But he had abused his authority both foolishly and 
 harshly. Had he been the wisest of men, his task 
 had not been easy, for hs was an Englishman, and 
 his people, for the most part, Danes. But he was 
 hasty and violent, and would have his own will, 
 whether it was just or not. Often too he would leave 
 his Earldom to live at Court, where King Edward held 
 him in great favour. At last, in the year 1065, Tostig 
 having caused two nobles of Northumbria to be put 
 to death, the people rebelled against him and drove 
 him out. At first the King, who loved him well, 
 was minded to bring him back, even by force. But 
 Harold, having conferred with the leaders of the 
 insurrection, and heard the accusations that were 
 brought against Tostig, judged otherwise. So his 
 Earldom was taken from Tostig, and he himself 
 banished. 
 
 And now Edward, whom men called the Confessor 
 for his piety and goodness, was like to die. He had 
 caused to be built a great church at Westminster, 
 spending on it, so men said, a tenth part of the whole 
 wealth of the kingdom. This having been finished, 
 was consecrated on Innocents' Day (Dec. 28, 1065). 
 
,12 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The King was hindered fronn being present by his 
 
 weakness, but he was well content to die when he knew 
 
 
 AmmAWMB. m%f^ 
 
 KING EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 
 
 that the work was done. Eight days afterwards he 
 was very near to his end. There were in the chamber 
 
HAROLD THE EARL. 113 
 
 with him his wife, the Queen, Stigand, Archbishop 
 of Canterbury, the Keeper of the palace, and Harold. 
 The Archbishop asked him, " To whom do you leave 
 your kingdom of England ? " Then the King stretched 
 out his hand to Harold, and said, " I commend her " 
 (meaning the Queen) ''and the whole nation to thy 
 protection." Having said so much, and received the 
 Holy Communion, he passed away. 
 
 The next day King Edward was buried in his new 
 church (where his bones remain to this day), and 
 Harold was crowned King of England in this same 
 place. When the Archbishop (not Stigand, as it 
 should be noted, but Ealdred of York) put the crown 
 upon his head, he asked of the people assembled, 
 " Do you choose Earl Harold, son of Godwin, for 
 your King } " All answered with a great shout, *' We 
 choose him." Thereupon the Archbishop duly 
 anointed him, put the crown upon his head, and the 
 sword in his hand, he having first sworn that he 
 would observe the laws of the kingdom. So Harold, 
 son of Godwin, was made King, and had the honour 
 for " forty weeks and one day " (Jan. 6 — Oct. 14). 
 
114 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 HAROLD THE KING. 
 
 Not many days had passed after Harold was thus 
 chosen and crowned King of England, when am- 
 bassadors came from William of Normandy, demand- 
 ing of him that he should fulfil the promises that he 
 had made and confirmed with an oath. To them 
 Harold answered, " The kingdom is not mine to give 
 up ; I hold it from the people of England." William 
 had not looked for any other answer, and began 
 without any delay to prepare for taking the kingdom 
 by force. He gathered a vast host together, as is told 
 elsewhere, and Harold, on his part, prepared to resist 
 him with all his might. 
 
 While the King thus waited for the coming of the 
 Normans, there reached him tidings of a great danger 
 that was threatening him and his kingdom in the 
 north. Earl Tostig had made alliance with Harold 
 Hardrada, King of Norway, and these two had 
 landed in Yorkshire, and were about to march 
 southward, ravaging the country as they went, unless 
 they should be hindered. So Harold set forth with- 
 
SAXON KING AND HIS ARMOUR-BEARER. 
 
ii6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 out delay, taking his house-carles with him, and 
 gathering as he went such as were willing to go with 
 him. These house-carles, I should say, were the 
 King's own guard. His other soldiers were called 
 together when they were wanted, and went back to 
 their homes and their work when the need was past, 
 but the carles were with the King always. There 
 were some three thousand in all. By the time that 
 Harold, whom I must now call the English Harold, 
 had reached Yorkshire, Harold of Norway and Tostig 
 had vanquished an army that the earls of the north 
 led against them, and after taking York had pitched 
 their camp at Stamford Bridge, which is by the river 
 Derwent. Harold rode through York, where the 
 people received him gladly, and went on to attack the 
 enemy. On his way, it is said, he and his companions 
 met Harold of Norway and Earl Tostig. Said Tostig 
 to his brother, " What will you give me if I consent to 
 make peace ?" "Your Earldom," said Harold, "and 
 more besides, if you want it." " And what will you 
 give to my ally, Harold of Norway } " " Seven feet 
 of English ground for a grave, or, for he chances to 
 be very tall, perchance a foot more." Tostig turned 
 away, for he was ashamed to make terms for himself 
 only. It is said also that Harold of Norway, who 
 had stood apart while the two talked together, not 
 knowing who it was that was speaking with Tostig, 
 
HAROLD THE KING. 117 
 
 was angry when he heard that it was the English 
 King. " Why did you let him depart unhurt ? " said 
 he to the Earl. 
 
 In the end Harold of England fell upon the enemy 
 before they expected him. They had pitched their 
 camp on both sides of the Derwent, the Bridge of 
 Stamford joining the two. Earl Tostig's men lay on 
 the side that was nearer to York. These made haste 
 to escape across the bridge, and were greatly helped 
 by a stout champion who held it against all the 
 Englishmen. So valiantly did he fight, though he 
 was one only against many, that they could not drive 
 him from his place, till some one going under the 
 bridge thrust at him with his spear through the 
 timbers, and so slew him. Then at last the English- 
 men crossed the bridge. While this was doing, 
 Harold of Norway put his men in array. Very fierce 
 was the fight that followed ; but in the end both the 
 King of Norway and Earl Tostig were killed, and 
 with them a certain Irish king who had leagued him- 
 self with them, hoping to get plunder from English 
 folk. Nor did many of the army escape, for they 
 were twenty miles and more from their ships, and all 
 the country was raised against them, and had no fear 
 of them now that they were beaten men. 
 
 Nevertheless, they whom Harold of Norway had 
 left to guard the ships escaped with their lives. They 
 
ii8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 had made a strong earthwork round the ships (which 
 may be seen to this day near to Riccall on the river 
 Ouse), and Harold the King judged it best not to 
 attack them, knowing that he could not take the 
 place without great loss of men. So he offered them 
 conditions of peace, namely, that they should depart 
 unharrried, but should first swear that they would 
 never come back to England as enemies, and should 
 also leave certain hostages, as pledges of their good 
 faith. This they did, and so departed, carrying with 
 them the dead body of their king. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 HAROLD THE KING (continued). 
 
 While King Harold remained in York, to which 
 city he returned after the battle, that he might rest 
 himself and his army, there came a messenger from 
 the south in hot haste with news that William, Duke 
 of Normandy, had landed in England with a great 
 host of men. This was, as near as can be judged, on 
 the first day of October. Not an hour did the King 
 tarry in York after he heard the news, but journeyed 
 
HAROLD THE KING. 119 
 
 in haste to London, taking with him such of his 
 house-carles as were still fit for service. And as 
 he journeyed he sent messengers to gather fresh 
 soldiers to his standard. Few, indeed, came from 
 the earldoms of the north, but from the shires of the 
 south there was gathered together to London, as the 
 writers of the time tell us, " an innumerable multitude 
 of Englishmen." With these he marched to meet the 
 army of the Normans, and pitched his camp on a hill 
 that was then called Senlac, but now Battle, in memory 
 of the great fight that was then fought. As for the 
 Normans, they lay at Hastings, which was about six 
 miles distant from Senlac Hill. 
 
 But first it should be told what the King's brothers, 
 Gurth and Leofwine, would have had him do, and 
 how he answered them. " Let us go," they said, 
 " and meet Duke William : we have made no promise 
 and taken no oath to him, and can therefore fight 
 with a free conscience. And if we are beaten, then 
 he will have to deal with you, so that all will not be 
 lost by one battle. Also you should lay waste all the 
 country between the sea and London, that the Nor- 
 mans may find nothing wherewith to feed themselves 
 and their horses." But Harold refused their counsel. 
 " I myself will meet William of Normandy," he said ; 
 " and I will not lay waste any fields of Englishmen." 
 
 On the fourteenth day of October, about nine 
 
I20 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 o'clock in the morning, the great battle began. King 
 Harold had made his post on Senlac Hill as strong 
 as he could, with a ditch and a triple palisade. In 
 
 SAXON SPEARMAN AND ARCHER. 
 
 the middle of the line he and his two brothers with 
 the house-carles took their place round the Royal 
 Standard. These were armed with helmets and 
 coats of mail, and had for weapon the Danish battle- 
 
HAROLD THE KING. 12 1 
 
 axe. On either wing were the men who had come in 
 from the southern shires, leaving the plough or the 
 forge to fight for King and country. Some had 
 swords and shields, but many were but ill armed, 
 carrying but pikes and bill-hooks and scythes. 
 
 Before the first line of the Normans rode a cham- 
 pion, Taillefer by name, who was both a minstrel 
 and a skilful man-at-arms. As he rode he sang the 
 song of Roland/ and threw up his lance in the air 
 and caught it again. He came close to the English 
 lines, and struck down first one champion that came 
 out against him, and then another, but was himself 
 struck down by a third. 
 
 The Normans were ranged in three divisions. 
 William with his knights being in the middle of the 
 line, advanced, as being themselves the strongest part 
 of the army, against King Harold and his chosen 
 men. On the left wing were the Bretons and the 
 men of Poitou ; on the right the French and others. 
 And in each division there were knights, and heavy- 
 armed foot-soldiers, and archers. 
 
 First of all the archers came forward, and shot a 
 volley against the English line. This done, they fell 
 back, not being armed for close combat. After these 
 the foot-soldiers came up to the palisade, and sought 
 to break through it, but in vain. And when these 
 
 1 A great French champion who fought against the Saracens. 
 
122 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 could do nothing, the Norman knights themselves 
 charged but could not break the English line, for 
 this fought behind a defence. Man for man, too, 
 the Englishmen were taller and stronger than their 
 enemies. 
 
 The first loss that the English suffered was from 
 their own fault. The Bretons, coming against them 
 on the left, turned and fled, and King Harold's men, 
 seeing this, charged from out their defences, and pur- 
 sued them down the hill. They slew, indeed, many, 
 and, so fierce was their charge, drove back even the 
 Norman knights. And when there went abroad a 
 rumour that Duke William himself had fallen, there 
 were some that thought that the battle was won. 
 But when the Duke, uncovering his head, rode through 
 the ranks, showing that he was yet alive, and the 
 knights recovering themselves, rode forward, and the 
 Bretons took courage again and ceased from flight, 
 then the English sufl'ered in their turn, losing many 
 before they could get back to their defences. 
 
 After this Duke William himself, with his brothers 
 Robert and Bishop Odo — a stout fighter for all that 
 he was a bishop — and a great company of his knights, 
 charged against the middle of the English line. Then 
 great deeds of arms were done, for Gurth, thrusting 
 with his spear at the Duke, wounded his horse, and 
 was himself struck to the ground by a blow of the 
 
HAROLD THE KING. 123 
 
 Duke's iron mace. Leofwine also was slain by a 
 Norman knight. But the Englishmen, though 
 troubled at the loss of these brave champions, still 
 held their ground. 
 
 Then the Normans feigned to flee, and the English- 
 men left their defences to pursue them. Again, as 
 before, when they had rushed out after the Bretons, 
 they suffered great loss, the enemy falling upon 
 them as they v/ere scattered. And, besides this, the 
 palisade being left without defenders, the Normans 
 were able to get within. Yet even then King Harold 
 and his men stood firm. So close was their array, 
 that though a man was slain, his dead body could 
 not fall to the ground, but was kept up by the 
 living. 
 
 So the battle might even then have been won, or 
 at least ended on equal terms for both, but that King 
 Harold himself was slain. The Norman archers, by 
 command of the Duke, shot a flight of arrows into 
 the air, and one of these as it fell wounded the King 
 in the eye. He fell at the foot of the Royal Standard, 
 and there, for the life was still in him, the Norman 
 knights battered him to death with many blows. 
 The men that had come from the shires fled from the 
 field, but the house-carles still fought where they 
 stood, not asking for quarter, till all were slain. That 
 day well-nigh all the nobles of the southern shires 
 
124 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 that were able to bear arms fell with their King, and 
 many priests also of high and low degree, for when 
 they came to count up the slain they found not a few 
 tonsured ^ heads among the English. The number of 
 them that fell has never been known. Of the Nor- 
 mans there were slain fifteen thousand, that is, a 
 fourth part of their whole army : of the English, 
 doubtless, many more. The body of the King was 
 buried on the sea-shore. " He guarded the coast 
 while he lived," said Duke William, " let him guard it 
 still, now that he is dead." But afterwards it was 
 taken away and laid in the church of the abbey 
 which he had founded at Waltham in Essex. 
 
 CHAPTER XVn 
 
 WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 
 
 William, who was afterwards called the Conqueror, 
 was the son of a certain Robert who was Duke of 
 Normandy. It was said that, having been laid when 
 he was born on the floor of the room, he took firm 
 
 1 /. e. shaven. All persons belonging to the various orders of 
 the clergy were required to have a part of their heads shaven. 
 
WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 125 
 
 hold of the straw that covered it — for in those days 
 straw was used for carpet even by rich and noble 
 people. It was thought that this was a sign that 
 when he should grow up he would be a great con- 
 queror, who would keep fast hold of everything on 
 which he might lay his hand. 
 
 When the boy was seven years old, his father the 
 Duke called together the nobles of the country, and 
 said to them, " I am resolved to journey to the 
 place where our Lord Christ died and was buried. 
 But because I know that this journey is full of 
 dangers, I would have it settled who should be Duke 
 in my place if I should die." The nobles answered 
 him that it would be far better that he should stay at 
 home, and do his duty in ruling his Duchy. But 
 Duke Robert would not be persuaded. He was 
 steadfastly resolved to go. And that it should be 
 settled before he went who should succeed him all 
 were agreed. Thereupon he brought before the nobles 
 his young son William. " This is my son," he said ; 
 "he is but little, but he will grow ; he is one of your 
 own race, and he has been brought up among you." 
 The Norman nobles were but ill pleased, for the boy's 
 mother was nothing better than a tanner's daughter. 
 Nevertheless they agreed to do as the Duke wished, 
 for there was no one else whom they could agree to 
 choose. Therefore they took the oaths and did 
 
126 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 homage to him. So Duke Robert set out, and died 
 not many months afterwards on his journey. 
 
 The nobles, though they had sworn to have the 
 young WiUiam for their Duke, were but Httle disposed 
 to keep their oath. All through Normandy there was 
 confusion and trouble ; every man did as he pleased, 
 making war upon his equals, and oppressing those 
 who were below him. They slew with the sword, or 
 poisoned first one and then another of the men who 
 had charge of the young Duke, and more than once 
 they came very near to killing the lad himself. Again 
 and again did his mother's brother, Walter by name, 
 save him by taking him from his castle, and hiding 
 him in the cottages of the poor. 
 
 But now he was growing up and able to take care 
 of himself. So, when a certain Thurstan, by the help 
 of some French soldiers, seized the castle of Falaise, 
 the young William, calling all loyal Normans to his 
 help, attacked him, and had it not been for the coming 
 of night, would have taken the castle by storm. 
 Thurstan, seeing that he could not hold the place, 
 gave it up, and was suffered to depart, on condition 
 that he should never return to Normandy. 
 
 When William was about twenty years of age, all 
 the nobles of Normandy made a great conspiracy 
 against him. First they tried either to seize or slay 
 him. It chanced that he was hunting at a certain 
 
WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 127 
 
 castle of his. One night, when he had fallen into his 
 first sleep, his jester burst into his room with his staff 
 in his hand, and awoke him, crying out, " If you do 
 not rise and fly for your life, you will never leave this 
 place a living man." Thereupon the young Duke 
 leapt from his bed, dressed himself in haste, and 
 mounted his horse. All that night he rode for his 
 life. It was moonlight, and so he could see his way. 
 There was a river to be crossed, but he came to it 
 where the tide was low, and so he was able to pass it 
 without danger. The ford by which he crossed was 
 afterwards called " The Duke's Way." At sunrise he 
 came to a certain place named Rye, where there was 
 a church and castle. The lord of the place was one 
 Hubert, a loyal man, who had no part in the con- 
 spiracy. Hubert was standing at his gate, and seeing 
 the Duke ride by at full speed, called to him and 
 asked why he rode at such haste. " I am flying for 
 my life," said the Duke. Thereupon he ordered a 
 fresh horse to be brought for him, and bade his three 
 sons ride with him for a guard, not leaving him till 
 they had lodged him safely in his castle at Falaise. 
 
 And now Duke William, not having sufficient 
 strength among the loyal men of Normandy to meet 
 the rebels, sought help from his over-lord, Henry, King 
 of the French. King Henry granted his petition, and 
 gathering soldiers from his own people, marched to 
 
128 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 help the Duke. It was not long before the two armies, 
 the King and the Duke on the one side, and the 
 rebels on the other, met in battle. 
 
 There was a certain lord among the rebels named 
 Ralph. He was a powerful man, having among his 
 
 NORMAN SOLDIERS. 
 
 followers one hundred and twenty knights, each with 
 a banner of his own. This man had sworn that he 
 would smite the Duke wherever he might find him. 
 But now he began to repent of what he had done. It 
 seemed to him a shameful thing to stand in arms 
 against his rightful lord, and all the more so because 
 
WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 129 
 
 the Duke had never done him any wrong. His 
 knights also urged him to return to the Duke, while 
 divers of those with whom he had conspired exhorted 
 him to keep faith with them, and promised him great 
 reward for so doing. For some time he stood doubt- 
 ful ; only he kept his men apart both from the one 
 army and the other. When William saw what he 
 was doing, he said to King Henry, " Those yonder 
 are the men of Ralph of Tessar ; he has no grudge 
 against me ; I doubt not but that they will soon be 
 on my side." And so indeed it turned out, for Ralph 
 took the advice of his knights. He bade them stay 
 where they were, but he himself galloped across the 
 field, and riding up to the Duke, struck him with his 
 glove. Thus he performed his oath. Afterwards, 
 when the battle was joined, he charged with his men 
 against the rebels. 
 
 Fierce was the fight that day, a battle of knights 
 against knights. Nowhere was it fiercer than where 
 King Henry of France fought at the head of his men. 
 Twice was the King struck down from his horse, and 
 each time the warrior that struck him was himself 
 slain. As for the Duke, he bore himself most bravely, 
 and with better fortune than the King. He slew the 
 most stalwart champion of the rebels with his own 
 hand. As this man rode in the front rank, as if to 
 challenge any that might dare to attack him, Williann 
 
 K 
 
ISO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 charged him, using, not his lance, as was constantly 
 the custom, but his sword. With this he smote the 
 champion such a blow between the throat and the 
 chest that the man fell dead from his horse. 
 
 Soon the rebels fled on every side. Many were 
 slain in the battle, and many fell in the flight, but yet 
 more perished in a flooded river which they were 
 compelled to cross. The very mill-wheels, it is said, 
 were stopped by the bodies of the dead. 
 
 It was on this day that William earned for the first 
 time the name of Conqueror. 
 
 After this he sought to win for his wife, Matilda, 
 daughter of Baldwin, Count of Flanders. It has been 
 said that he courted her in a very strange fashion. 
 First, for such is the story, he made his suit in a 
 peaceable way through her father. Her answer was 
 this : " I had sooner be a nun than the wife of a low- 
 born man." When William heard this, he mounted 
 his horse, and taking with him a few companions, 
 rode to Bruges, in which town the lady was then 
 living. He found her coming back from church, and 
 leaping from his horse, seized her by the hair, and 
 beat and kicked her. But when next Count Baldwin 
 inquired of his daughter whether she was willing to 
 take any man for a husband, she made this answer : 
 " No husband will I have, except it be William the 
 Norman." 
 
WILLIAM, DUKE OF NORMANDY. 131 
 
 However this may be, it is certain that the Pope 
 forbade the marriage. There was some kindred 
 between the two/ and such were not permitted to 
 marry except by special leave of the Pope. But 
 William took no heed of the Pope's forbidding. 
 Matilda became his wife ; and, after awhile, the Pope 
 granted him pardon. 
 
 There is no need to tell again what has been told 
 already in the foregoing chapters ; how William, get- 
 ting Harold into his possession, made him swear to be 
 his man ; how he gathered together a great host, and 
 coming to England, conquered King Harold in a 
 great battle on the hill of Senlac. It is said that 
 when he was leaping from his boat to the shore, he 
 stumbled and fell. His companions were greatly 
 troubled at this mishap, which seemed to them a bad 
 beginning of the enterprise. He who had so great 
 a thing to accomplish in England should not, they 
 thought, stumble and fall so soon as he touched its 
 shore. But William did not lose heart for a moment. 
 Lifting up his hands, which were full of earth, he cried 
 in a loud voice, " See ! I have taken possession of this 
 land of England." 
 
 The story of the battle also has been told ; but this 
 may be said, that as no man had more to win in this 
 same battle, so no man bore himself more bravely. 
 * Strangely enough, it is not known what this kindred was. 
 
132 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 Many a warrior did he smite to the ground with the 
 great mace which he was wont to carry ; one of them 
 was a brother of King Harold, one of the bravest and 
 most stalwart warriors on the English side. Nor 
 did he fail either in prudence, or such skill as a general 
 should show. It may be said that, beyond all doubt, 
 Harold and his Englishmen would have won the day 
 at the battle of Senlac, had not William, Duke of 
 Normandy showed himself so excellently good a 
 soldier and leader. 
 
PART III, 
 
 UNDER THE NORMAN KINGS AND THEIR 
 SUCCESSORS. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 
 
 For one-and-twenty years did the Conqueror reign 
 in England. Not a little good did he do in his new 
 kingdom. First of all, so strong and resolute was he, 
 he made all men, however great and powerful they 
 might be, understand that they must obey the laws. 
 He caused equal justice to be administered between 
 man and man. He forbade all buying and selling of 
 slaves. He brought not a few learned men into the 
 country, caused the clergy to do their duty better, 
 and greatly encouraged the building of splendid 
 churches. 
 
 Nevertheless the English people suffered many 
 things at his hands. For, first, he was constrained 
 to reward those who had helped him to win the 
 kingdom, nor could he so reward but by spoiling 
 others of goods and lands. Few indeed were the 
 parishes throughout the whole country in which an 
 Englishman was not dispossessed of his estate that 
 
136. STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 it might be given to some follower of the King.^ 
 Then the English people again and again rebelled 
 against him, and, being subdued, were, almost of 
 necessity, severely treated. Lastly, he himself became 
 more stern and more cruel, more selfish, more bent 
 on having his own way and following his own 
 pleasure without care or concern for others. Doubtless 
 it was a good thing for England that it should have 
 been conquered, even, one may say, that it should 
 have been conquered by WiHiam of Normandy. 
 Nevertheless it was but little of this good thing that 
 came to the Englishmen of that time. 
 
 The trouble began with the very day on which 
 Duke William was crowned, to wit the Christmas of 
 the year in which he came to England. Fearing lest 
 the people of London, who were ill-disposed to him, 
 should attack him, he posted round the Abbey of 
 Westminster, in which he was to be crowned, a great 
 body of Norman soldiers. At the very moment when 
 the Archbishop was putting the crown upon the 
 
 1 We know this from a survey which the King caused to be 
 made of the whole country. This still exists, and is known by 
 the name of Domesday Book. Among other things it gives the 
 names of those who owned the land in the time of Edward the 
 Confessor, and of those who then possessed it. Continually we 
 find that an Englishman had been driven out to make room for 
 a Norman. Again and again we find that the value of the land 
 is less than it had been, that much had become "waste." 
 
WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 137 
 
 King's head, asking the EngHsh that were in the 
 church whether they were wilhng to have WiUiam, 
 Duke of Normandy, for their king, and the people 
 had answered that they were so willing, there was a 
 gr^at cry outside. The soldiers had fallen upon the 
 houses of the citizens, and had begun to plunder and 
 set them on fire. The English that were in the church 
 fled for their lives, and the Norrnans made haste to 
 get their share of the spoil. So William was left 
 alone in the church with the bishops and clerks. 
 Still he would not have the matter delayed, and so 
 was crowned. But when he swore that he would rule 
 as justly as had any of the kings that had reigned 
 before him, he added these words, " So that the people 
 be true to me." 
 
 Many times did the English people rise against 
 their Norman King. The fiercest of all their rebel- 
 lions was in Northumberland,^ and this was most 
 cruelly punished. He laid waste the whole land 
 from north to south, from east to west. Every house 
 was burnt with all that was in it ; the stores of corn 
 and hay and other food for man and beast were de- 
 stroyed ; the very animals were driven into the flames 
 
 ^ By this word is meant more than the county which now 
 bears the name ; it was hterally " the land north of the H umber," 
 and included therefore the great county of Yorkshire, with 
 Durham, Cumberland, and Westmoreland. 
 
138 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 and burnt. For years to come the fields in many 
 parts lay desolate, and the towns were without 
 inhabitants. 
 
 This land of Northumbria he laid waste in his 
 anger; to another region of England, in the south,' he 
 did the same for his pleasure. Of all things, that 
 which William loved the best was hunting, and in 
 order that he might enjoy this sport without hindrance, 
 he cleared in the county of Hampshire a great space 
 of land — thirty miles it was from end to end. Before 
 it had been a flourishing region, fair and fertile, with 
 many houses and churches. Now it was laid waste, 
 given over to the beasts that the King loved to hunt.^ 
 There seemed to be a curse on the place. Here one 
 of the King's sons, Richard by name, was killed, 
 struck by the bough of a tree, as he was hunting a 
 stag ; here, as will be told in the next chapter, another 
 son, William, who reigned after him, met his death ; 
 here a grandson also perished by the chance blow 
 from the arrow of a companion. 
 
 As he grew to be an old man, trouble upon trouble 
 came upon William ; nor had there ever been known, 
 either in England or in Normandy, a darker time 
 than the year in which he died. Grievous storms 
 destroyed the harvest, so that many men died of 
 
 ^ This is near the New Forest, one of the most beautiful parts 
 of England, so that here again good has come out of evil. 
 
WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 139 
 
 hunger ; many towns with their churches were burnt, 
 London among them, with its great cathedral of St. 
 Paul's ; many evil deeds were done, and there were 
 many wars. As for William himself, he met his 
 
 A NORMAN KING HUNTING. 
 
 death in a war that he waged with King Philip of 
 France. They were at variance about a certain 
 district on the border -of France and Normandy. The 
 French King had taken possession of it, but King 
 William claimed it as his own. He had been lying 
 
140 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 sick at Rouen, the chief town of the Duchy, and had 
 been angered by a foolish jest of King Philip's. 
 Rising from his bed, he rode forth to take vengeance. 
 He wasted all the land that was in dispute between 
 him and the French King, and when he came to the 
 chief town that was in it, he burnt it, churches as well 
 as houses, to the ground. As he rode among the 
 ruins, his horse put its foot on a piece of burning wood 
 and stumbled. The King was thrown forward on the 
 saddle and so grievously hurt, for he was very heavy, 
 that he had to be carried home. There he lay dying 
 for some weeks, and as he lay, he sorely repented him 
 of his many misdeeds, confessing that he had caused 
 the death of many thousands of innocent people, and 
 had taken away their possessions by force from many. 
 Two of his sons were with him — the eldest, Robert 
 by name, had been banished. When he came to 
 speak of who should have his kingdoms after him, he 
 said, *' Robert must have Normandy ; it is his of right. 
 As for England, I cannot give away that which is 
 not mine, but my desire is, if it may be, that William, 
 who has ever been faithful to me, may have it." 
 Then said Henry, his youngest son, " And what dost 
 thou give me, my father ? " " Five thousand pounds 
 of silver from my hoard," said the King. " But what 
 good shall the silver do me, if I have no place in 
 which to dwell ? " The King answered, " Be patient, 
 
WILLIAM, KING OF ENGLAND. 141 
 
 my son, and let thy elders go before thee." The King 
 then bade William set out at once for England. 
 Henry also left his father that he might make sure 
 of getting his treasure. After this the King made 
 provision for the building again of the churches which 
 he had caused to be destroyed ; he commanded that 
 the rest of his treasure should be given to the poor, 
 and for the building of churches and the like uses. 
 Certain rebels whom he had cast into prison he 
 ordered to be released. And so, having done what 
 he could to make his peace with God and man, the 
 Conqueror died. 
 
 But it was not to be that he should be buried in 
 peace. As the body was being carried to the grave a 
 fire broke out, and seemed likely to destroy a great 
 part of the town. Most of those that followed the 
 coffin left their place in the procession that they might 
 save their possessions. Nor was this all. When the 
 preacher had spoken of all the great deeds of the dead 
 man, he said, " Let all that are here present pray for 
 his soul ; let them beg that God may forgive his 
 trespasses against Him ; let them forgive themselves 
 anything in which he may have trespassed against 
 them." 
 
 When he had said these words, a certain knight 
 stood forward and said, " On this very ground where- 
 on ye now stand, once stood my father's house. This 
 
142 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 man, whom ye are burying here to-day, took the land 
 away from him by force and against all right, and 
 built this church upon it. I now claim it for my own, 
 and forbid you to bury the body of this robber within 
 the borders of my lawful inheritance." 
 
 Thereupon the bishops inquired of them that stood 
 by whether these things were so. When they heard 
 that the man had spoken the truth, they covenanted 
 with him that he should sell to them so much land as 
 was needed for the grave for sixty shillings, and they 
 promised that in due time they would pay him the 
 full price for the whole. Thus was the Conqueror 
 buried. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE RED KING. 
 
 As the Conqueror had desired, when he lay dying, 
 that his son William should have England, so it came 
 to pass. Seventeen days after his father's death he 
 was crowned King, having first sworn that he would 
 maintain justice and mercy throughout the realm, and 
 that he would duly preserve all the rights of the 
 Church. He was not indeed permitted to possess 
 
THE RED KING. 143 
 
 himself of this great inheritance altogether in peace. 
 Some of the great nobles were ill-pleased that William 
 should be King in the place of Robert the eldest son, 
 who was of an easier temper, and might be ruled by 
 them ; it vexed them also that a division should be 
 made between Normandy and England. For these 
 reasons they rebelled against King William, Robert 
 also sending across the sea some soldiers to help 
 them. The King thereupon resorted to the English 
 for help, promising them that their taxes should be 
 lighter, that the laws should be made better, and 
 more justly administered. This help the people will- 
 ingly gave, so that the rebellion was speedily brought 
 to an end. 
 
 But when the Red King — for so they called him 
 from the colour of his hair and his face — felt that he 
 was safe upon his throne, he broke all his promises. 
 Never had England a king more careless of his word, 
 more given to oppression, never one that had less 
 regard either for God or for man. He was especially 
 greedy of money, not caring by what wrong and 
 injustice he got it, and spending it when got in all 
 extravagant and wicked ways. Thus when a bishopric 
 or an abbey became vacant by the death of its pos- 
 sessor, William would not suffer any one to be elected 
 or appointed, but took all the revenue for himself. In 
 this way, when the good Archbishop Lanfranc, who 
 
144 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 had crowned him, died, he kept the archbishopric 
 vacant for four years, taking all the revenues for him- 
 self. Only when he fell sick, believing that he was 
 about to die, he repented, and gave the office to a 
 certain monk, Anselm by name, who had reproved 
 him for his wickedness, and exhorted him to repent. 
 But when he recovered, he forgot all his good resolu- 
 tions, and persevered in his evil ways till the very day 
 of his death. The manner of his death was this. He 
 died, as more than one of his house had died before, in 
 the New Forest. He had passed a restless night, so 
 disturbed by bad dreams that he called for his servants 
 to watch by his bedside. 
 
 Before the sun rose one of his attendants entered 
 his chamber, and told him of a dream which a certain 
 monk had had, which seemed to mean some evil that 
 was to happen to the King. William laughed. " The 
 man," he said, " dreams like a monk ; give him a 
 hundred shillings." Nevertheless, by the advice of his 
 servants, he gave up the intention that he had of 
 hunting, and remained at home. But after dinner he 
 changed his mind, and rode out into the Forest. Before 
 long he was left alone, his companions having gone 
 different ways in the pursuit of game. What hap- 
 pened afterwards was never known for certain. It 
 was commonly reported at the time that one Walter 
 Tyrrell, shooting at a deer, struck a tree with the 
 
THE RED KING. 
 
 145 
 
 arrow, which, glancing off, wounded the King to death ; 
 and that he, seeing what he had done, rode off at full 
 speed to the coast, where he took ship, and sailed to 
 the Holy Land. But Walter Tyrrell, when he came 
 back to England, took a solemn oath that he had not 
 
 THE KING S SHIP. 
 
 been that day in that part of the Forest, and had not 
 even seen the King. That he was murdered by some 
 one seems likely, for indeed there were many that 
 had reason to hate him. A peasant, passing through 
 the Forest about sunset, found the King lying dead 
 upon the ground, with an arrow in his breast. The 
 
146 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 man put the body into his cart, and carried it to 
 Winchester. There it was buried the next day, in the 
 Cathedral, but without prayer or hymn. 
 
 Two good qualities the Red King had, and, as far 
 as we can see, two only. He was faithful and obedient 
 to his father, who regarded him more than his other 
 sons. And he was brave. This story is told of him, 
 that having heard that a certain noble in his dominions 
 abroad had rebelled against him, he took horse forth- 
 with, crying out, " Let all that love me follow." When 
 he reached the coast, he found the weather very 
 stormy, and the captain of the ship in which he wished 
 to cross the sea was unwilling to set sail. " Hold thy 
 peace, man," said William, " kings are never drowned." 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 
 
 The Red King was succeeded by his younger 
 brother Henry, who was surnamed Beauclerc, or Good 
 Scholar, for he had been better educated than princes 
 commonly were in those days, knowing even some- 
 thing of Latin. He did much for the better govern- 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 147 
 
 ment of England. His son and heir William was 
 drowned, and on his death the succession to the 
 Crown was disputed between his daughter Maud and 
 Stephen of Blois. Maud had married Henry V., 
 Emperor of Germany, and secondly Geoffrey Plan- 
 tagenet, Count of Anjou. Stephen was the son of 
 Adela, daughter of the Conqueror. Then followed a 
 time of great trouble, but in 1153, Stephen's son 
 Eustace having died, it was agreed that Stephen 
 should reign for the rest of his life, and Henry, son 
 of the Empress Maud, should be king after him. 
 
 Henry H., who already possessed Normandy and 
 Maine, received with his wife Eleanor the great 
 province of Aquitaine, and had more of France than 
 the King of France himself. What troubles came 
 from these possessions in France to him and to others 
 will be seen hereafter. But the story that I have to 
 tell of this King concerns the famous Thomas Becket. 
 
 Not a few wonderful things are said to have 
 happened to this Thomas while he was a boy. His 
 father, who had given him over to be taught by 
 certain priests who dwelt at Merton in Surrey, came 
 one day to see him. When the boy was brought into 
 his presence, he fell down before him, and did him 
 reverence. The Prior cried out, " Foolish old man, 
 what doest thou .'* dost thou fall at thy son's feet .? 
 That surely he should rather do to thee." But the 
 
148 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 father answered — not indeed in his son's hearing — *' I 
 know what I do : that boy will be great in the sight 
 of the Lord." 
 
 Once when he was at home for holiday he had 
 a marvellous escape from death. There lodged with 
 his father a certain knight, who spent his time in 
 hunting with hawks and hounds. Thomas would 
 often go with him, having a great liking for this sport, 
 in which when he grew up he also spent such leisure 
 as he had. One day the knight went out according 
 to custom, and Thomas followed him on horseback. 
 They had to cross a certain swift stream. There was 
 indeed a bridge, but it was so small and narrow that 
 it could be safely passed only on foot. Below this 
 bridge there was a mill with a wheel, towards which 
 the stream ran with a very fast current, having a 
 steep bank on either side. This bridge the knight, 
 intent on his sport, and careless of danger, crossed 
 first on his horse, and Thomas, fearing nothing, 
 followed him. But when he came to the middle of 
 the bridge, suddenly his horse stumbled, and both he 
 and his rider fell into the stream. Here the two were 
 parted by the violence of the current, and the boy was 
 carried downward, nor did there seem any hope but 
 that he would be either drowned or crushed by the 
 wheel. But when he was now on the brink of death, 
 the man that had charge of the mill, knowing nothing 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 149 
 
 of what had happened, suddenly shut off the water 
 from the wheel. Meanwhile the knight and his com- 
 pany were following down the stream with piteous 
 cries. These the man at the mill heard, the noise of 
 the wheel being stopped. Coming forth he thrust his 
 hand into the water, and drew Thomas to land scarce 
 breathing and but half alive. 
 
 Thomas, growing up, obtained the favour first of 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, and then of the King, 
 who made him Chancellor, he being then thirty-seven 
 years of age.^ 
 
 When he was Chancellor, many nobles sent their 
 sons to be in his house. These he caused to be duly 
 trained and taught. Some he sent back to their 
 parents fit to be good and true knights, and some he 
 kept with himself. The King put his own son, Henry, 
 in his charge.2 
 
 No man ever did the duties of his office more 
 honestly and diligently than did Thomas. The King, 
 the clergy, the nobles, and the people alike honoured 
 him for his greatness of mind and his many virtues. 
 With the King he had a close friendship ; and when 
 business was done, they would play together like 
 
 ^ The King was Henry II., who came to the throne in 11 54, 
 and made Thomas Becket his Chancellor in the year following. 
 
 ^ Henry was only an infant, for he was born in the year in 
 which Becket became Chancellor. 
 
I50 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 two boys of the same age. They sat together in 
 church, and they rode out together. One day they 
 were riding together in the streets of London, the 
 weather being very cold. The King saw an old man 
 coming, poor, in thin and ragged clothing. Where- 
 upon he said to the Chancellor, " Do you see him } " 
 The Chancellor answered, " Yes, I see him." The 
 King — " How poor he is, how feeble, how poorly 
 clad ! Would it not be a most charitable deed to 
 give him a cloak, warm and thick .-* " The Chan- 
 cellor — " Verily it would ; and you, my King, 
 should have care that he have it." Meanwhile the 
 man came up. Said the King to him, "Wilt thou 
 have a good cloak, my friend .'* " The poor man, not 
 knowing who these two might be, thought that he 
 jested. Then said the King to the Chancellor, 
 " You shall do this great charity." And laying hold 
 of the cloak which he wore — it was new, and very 
 fine, of scarlet and grey — he strove to drag it from 
 him. The Chancellor strove to keep it. Then 
 there was a great commotion and noise, and all the 
 knights rode up, wondering what this might mean, 
 for the two were pulling with both their hands, 
 and more than once seemed likely to fall from 
 their horses. At last the Chancellor suffered the 
 King to have his way, that is to pull off the cloak 
 and give it to the poor man. Then the King told 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE CHANCELLOR. 151 
 
 the story, and there was great laughter among the 
 knights. 
 
 In the third year of his office, Becket went on an 
 embassy to the King of France, to make a contract 
 of marriage between his King's son Henry and the 
 daughter of the King of France. Never did am- 
 bassador go more splendidly equipped. He had 
 two hundred men on horseback, all of his own house- 
 hold, knights, esquires, clerks, serving-men, and young 
 nobles whom he had trained in his house. All were 
 clothed as became their rank. As for Thomas, he 
 had four-and-twenty changes of raiment and many 
 garments of silk and fur, and robes and carpets such 
 as the chamber and bed of a bishop are wont to be 
 adorned with. He had also hounds and birds of all 
 kinds such as kings and nobles are wont to use. He 
 had light carriages, drawn each by five strong horses. 
 Of these, two bore nothing but beer, " a liquor made 
 of corn with water, which the French greatly admire, 
 for it is clear, and of the colour of wine, but better 
 in taste." In one carriage was the furniture of his 
 chapel, in another that of his chamber, and in a 
 third that of his kitchen. Others carried meat and 
 drink and divers other goods. He had twelve horses, 
 and eight chests full of gold and silver plate, and 
 many clothes and books, and other matters. Each 
 horse had its own groom ; under each wagon was a 
 
152 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 dog chained, strong enough, it was said, to overcome a 
 Hon or a bear. And on the back of each horse was 
 a tailed monkey. When the Frenchmen, rushing 
 out of their houses, asked who this was and whose 
 the train, it was answered to them, " It is the 
 Chancellor of the King of the English, going on an 
 embassy to the King of the French." Then said the 
 
 BECKET MADE ARCHBISHOP. 
 
 Frenchmen, " Marvellous is the King of the EngHsh, 
 whose Chancellor goes thus grandly." Nor was he 
 famous for these things only. When afterwards there 
 was war between the two kings, the Chancellor had 
 seven hundred knights of his own household, and 
 many others. And he himself met in single combat a 
 valiant French knight, and striking him down, spoiled 
 him of his horse 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 153 
 
 When he had been Chancellor for seven years, the 
 King sent for him, and told him that he was minded 
 to make him Archbishop of Canterbury. Thomas 
 was greatly unwilling that this should be. " I know," 
 said he, " that if this be done, you will soon turn 
 away your love, and regard me with the bitterest 
 hatred. Already you do many things in respect of 
 the Church which I like not. And now there will be 
 stirred up endless strife between us." These words 
 did not alter the King's purpose. Thomas, therefore, 
 having been duly chosen, was made Archbishop, 
 having being first ordained priest, for before this he 
 was a deacon only. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 
 
 What Thomas had said, soon came to pass, for he 
 fell out with the King. It would be long to tell all 
 the causes of quarrel between them, but the chief was 
 this, that the King desired to put the clergy under 
 the common law of England, while Becket would 
 have them judged by a law of their own, or by the 
 
154 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Pope. Once did Becket give way, but he soon 
 repented of having done so, and this made the King 
 even more angry than before. At last the King 
 called him to come before an assembly of the earls 
 and barons of the kingdom. When these were about 
 to pronounce sentence against him, he refused to 
 hear. " I am your father," he said, " you are laymen 
 
 DISPUTE BETWEEN HENRY II. AND BECKET. 
 
 only. I will not hear your sentence." Then he arose 
 from his place, and went bearing his cross to the door. 
 One of the King's friends following him called out 
 that he was a traitor. Thomas turned on him and 
 said, " Were I a knight, mine own hands would prove 
 that thou liest." He mounted his horse, and rode 
 back to the monastery where he lodged, but could 
 scarcely manage his horse or carry his cross for the 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 155 
 
 multitude that thronged about him and asked for his 
 blessing. After this he sat down to meat with a 
 cheerful spirit, the chamber where he was being 
 thronged with people. In the book that, according 
 to custom, was read during the meal, came by chance 
 the text, " When they persecute you in one city, flee 
 ye to another." Hearing these words, he looked to 
 one of his friends, as if taking these words to himself. 
 That night he fled. Not without much toil and 
 danger did he reach a place of safety. For a time he 
 went afoot ; not being used to this travelling he often 
 tottered and fell. His companions besought a boy 
 whom they saw to hire something for the holy man 
 to ride. The boy ran to the nearest village, but was 
 absent so long that Thomas's companions began to 
 fear that he had betrayed them. At last he came 
 back leading with him an ass, which, for a bridle, had 
 a wisp of hay, and lacked a saddle. Still they were 
 forced to be content ; so, throwing a cloak on the 
 beast, they made the holy man ride. For two miles 
 he rode, then, thinking it both easier and more 
 respectable to go on foot, he walked for the rest of 
 the way with his companions. They passed a certain 
 knight standing at the door of his house with a 
 hawk upon his wrist. When he saw four men dressed 
 as clerks going by, he looked at them closely, and 
 said, " One of these is either the Archbishop of 
 
156 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Canterbury, or very like to him." To whom one of 
 Thomas's companions answered, " Didst ever see 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury travelling in such 
 fashion ? " Some say that Thomas was in greater 
 danger of being known because, as was his manner, 
 he looked lovingly on the hawk. At another place 
 the landlord of an inn knew him by the slenderness of 
 his hands, and by the kindness with which he gave 
 portions of food to the children. As for the King, he 
 was greatly enraged, and not being able to harm the 
 Archbishop, banished all his kindred from England. 
 It would be long to tell how the quarrel went on. At 
 last it seemed that the two were reconciled. Thomas 
 went to meet the King, and the King ran forward 
 from the crowd, and saluted him, and talked to him 
 in so friendly a fashion that it might have seemed 
 there had been no enmity between them. But it 
 was more a show than a reality. " Trust him not," 
 said the King of France, "my Lord Archbishop, 
 unless he gives you the kiss of peace." And this the 
 King never gave. 
 
 After this Thomas went back to England, but he 
 would not give way one jot in the matter that was in 
 dispute, and he put under the ban the bishops and 
 others that had held with the King. When he came 
 to Canterbury the people and the clergy received him 
 with all honour. From Canterbury he went to 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 157 
 
 London, and there also he was most honourably 
 received. 
 
 When the King heard of these things, how that the 
 bishops had been excommunicated — this the bishops 
 themselves crossed the sea to tell him — and how great 
 multitudes of the people went out to do honour to 
 the Archbishop, he was greatly enraged. First he 
 asked of the bishops, " My lords, what shall I do t " 
 They answered, " It is not our part to tell you what 
 must be done." But one of them said — it was the 
 Archbishop of York — " My lord, as long as Thomas 
 lives, you will have no peace nor quiet, nor will you 
 see another good day." Then the King cried, " I 
 have nourished and promoted to honour sluggish and 
 wretched knaves who are faithless to their lord, and 
 suffer him to be tricked in such infamous fashion by 
 a base clerk." 
 
 Four knights of the household, hearing the King 
 speak, and seeing how great was his rage, agreed 
 together that they would kill the Archbishop, and 
 departed for England, sailing from different ports. 
 These four were Reginald Fitz-Urse, William de 
 Tracy, Hugh de Morville, and Richard Brito. 
 
 Meanwhile the Archbishop had come back to 
 Canterbury. On Christmas Day he preached to the 
 people, taking for his text the song of the Angels 
 of Bethlehem, " Peace on earth to men of good 
 
158 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 will." ^ At the end of his sermon he said that the time 
 of his departure was at hand, and as he said this he 
 wept. There was heard also throughout the church 
 weeping- and wailing, while the people murmured, 
 " Father, why dost thou desert us so soon .? " After- 
 wards when some one said to him that there had been 
 in Canterbury, among the archbishops, one martyr, 
 St. Alphege,^ he answered, " It may well be that in a 
 short time you will have another." Nevertheless, 
 when he sat down at table with his friends, he was 
 merry after his custom. 
 
 On the fourth day after Christmas, that is the day 
 following the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the four 
 knights came to Canterbury. They pretended that 
 they came by order of the King,^ and so had 
 gathered a band of followers. It was past the dinner- 
 hour when they arrived, and the Archbishop had 
 risen from table, and had gone into an inner room to 
 do some business. They who had waited upon the 
 Archbishop were themselves dining, and invited the 
 
 1 This is the way in which the words, " Peace on earth, and 
 good will towards men," stand in the Vulgate, or Latin transla- 
 tion of the Bible. 
 
 2 St. Alphege was made prisoner when Canterbury was taken 
 by the Danes in 1012. The Danes hoped that he would ransom 
 himself by giving up to them the treasures of the see, but he 
 refused to do so. Thereupon he was murdered. 
 
 ^ In fact the King, suspecting their purpose, had sent an order 
 to stop them, and at the same time to arrest the Archbishop. 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. 159 
 
 knights, whom they knew as being servants of the 
 King, to sit down with them. The knights refused, 
 saying that they had business with the Archbishop. 
 He consenting to see them, they were brought into 
 the chamber where he was. They sat down without 
 saluting him, and when he greeted them courteously, 
 they answered him with anger. The Archbishop 
 changed countenance, knowing that they had come 
 for his hurt. Then Fitz-Urse, who seemed to be the 
 ringleader among them, said, " We have somewhat 
 to say to thee by the King's command ; shall we tell 
 it here before all t " The Archbishop, knowing what 
 they were about to say, answered, " These things 
 should not be spoken in private, but in public." The 
 doorkeeper thereupon called back those who were in 
 the chamber — for the Archbishop had commanded 
 them to go out. But for this the knights would have 
 killed him there and then, striking him with the shaft 
 of the cross, which stood by, which they afterwards 
 confessed. Then said Fitz-Urse again, "The King, 
 after peace had been made between him and you, 
 sent you back to your see, as you desired ; now you 
 have added new insults to the old, excommunicating 
 those who have been on the King's side. Say, then, 
 are you ready to answer for your misdeeds in the 
 King's presence 1 It is for this that we have been 
 sent." 
 
i6o S7VRIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The Archbishop. "I have had no thought of 
 doing wrong to my lord the King. But it is not just 
 that he should be angry because the people con:ie to 
 meet me, and follow me when I go through cities and 
 towns, seeing that they have been deprived of my 
 presence these seven years past. Yet even now I am 
 ready to satisfy him if I have done aught amiss. And 
 as for the bishops, it was not I but the Pope that 
 passed this sentence upon them." 
 
 The Knight. " Nay, but it was your doing that 
 he passed it. Absolve them." 
 
 A. "I do not deny that it was of my doing; but 
 those whom the Pope has bound I cannot absolve." 
 
 The K. " It is the King's command that you depart 
 forthwith from this place with all your men. There 
 can be no peace with you from this day." 
 
 A. " Cease your threats ; never again will I put the 
 sea between me and my church. He that wants me 
 shall find me here." 
 
 The K. "What the King has commanded, tljat 
 will we cause to be done." 
 
 A. "If any man shall break the laws of Christ's 
 Church, I will not spare him." 
 
 The K. (springing up from their seats). "You 
 have said this to the peril of your life." 
 
 A. "Do you come to kill me? I have committed 
 my cause to the Judge of all." 
 
THOMAS BECKET, THE ARCHBISHOP. i6i 
 
 Fitz-Urse. " In the King's name we command all 
 that are here to hold this man, lest he should escape 
 before the King shall have had full justice on his 
 body." 
 
 When he had said this they went out, but the Arch- 
 bishop followed them to the door, saying, " Here shall 
 ye find me." Then returning to his place, he sat 
 down and comforted his people, exhorting them not 
 to fear. He had not been more cheerful if they had 
 come, not to kill him, but to invite him to a bridal. 
 The knights quickly came back armed with swords 
 and axes and other weapons. Meanwhile the doors 
 of the chamber had been barred; and they, finding 
 that it was not opened to their knocking, turned by a 
 private way through the orchard till they came to a 
 wooden partition. This they cut through with their 
 axes. The servants and clerks, frightened by the 
 noise, fled in all directions ; but certain of the monks 
 urged the Archbishop to flee into the church. He 
 refused, remembering that he had said that the 
 knights should find him there. The monks then 
 said that it did not become him to be absent from 
 the church when Vespers were being said — for it was 
 now the time for Vespers. And when he still was 
 unwilling to leave the place, they laid hold of him, 
 and dragged him by force, not heeding his cries that 
 they should let him go, till they had brought him to 
 
1 62 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the church. When he came, the monks stopped 
 saying Vespers, which they had begun, and ran to 
 him, rejoicing that he was yet aHve. But when they 
 would have shut and barred the doors, he forbade 
 them. "It is not meet," he said, "to make a fortress 
 of the house of prayer ; though it be not shut up, it 
 is able to protect its own." When he had said this, 
 the knights entered the church, having their drawn 
 swords in their hands. 
 
 All that were in the church now fled seeking 
 shelter, some at the altars, some in hiding-places. 
 Three only remained with the Archbishop. And 
 indeed he might easily have escaped, for it was 
 evening, and the crypt was at hand, in which were 
 many dark recesses. Also there was a door hard by, 
 and a winding stair which led to the roof of the 
 church. 
 
 The knights cried out, " Where is Thomas Becket, 
 traitor to the King and realm } " When there was no 
 answer, they cried again, " Where is the Archbishop t " 
 At these words he came down from the winding stair, 
 for he had been dragged thither by the monks, and 
 said in a clear voice, " I am here, no traitor, but a 
 priest ; why do you seek me } I am ready to suffer 
 in His house, Who redeemed me. Far be it from me 
 to flee from your swords." So speaking he turned to 
 a pillar, on one side of which there was a chapel of 
 
the Blessed Virgin, and on the other a chapel of St. 
 Benedict. 
 
 The Knights. " Absolve those whom you have 
 excommunicated." 
 
 Archbishop. "They have not given satisfaction, 
 and I will not absolve them." 
 
 The K. " Then shall you die, and receive your 
 deserts." 
 
 A. " I am ready to die, so that I may obtain liberty 
 and peace for the Church by my blood ; but in the 
 name of God I forbid you to hurt my people." 
 
 The knights laid hands on him, seeking to drag 
 him out of the church, that they might kill him out- 
 side, or, it may be, carry him away prisoner. But he 
 clung to the pillar. Fitz-Urse laid hold on him, but 
 the Archbishop called him by an ill name, and said, 
 " Reginald, touch me not, you owe me subjection." 
 Fitz-Urse answered, " I owe no subjection to any, 
 against my fealty to my lord the King." 
 
 Then Thomas, seeing that his hour was at hand, 
 inclined his neck as one that prays, and joining his 
 hands together, commended his cause and the cause 
 of the Church to God, and to Saint Mary, and to 
 Saint Denys. Thereupon Fitz-Urse, fearing lest he 
 should be rescued by the people, leapt upon him 
 suddenly, and smote him on the top of the head, 
 wounding by the same blow the arm of a certain 
 
164 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 monk, Edward Grim by name, who was holding the 
 Archbishop round the body. Another knight dealt 
 him a second blow on the head, but still he stood 
 firm. At the third blow, he fell on his knees and 
 elbows, saying in a low voice, " In the name of Jesus, 
 and the protection of the Church, I am ready to 
 
 MURDER OF THE ARCHBISHOP. 
 
 embrace death." Then the third knight, with a 
 stroke of his sword, cut off the crown of the head, so 
 that the blood and the brains together flowed out on 
 the floor of the church. With the knights there was 
 a certain clerk, who for his ill life was called Mauclerc.^ 
 He put his foot on the dead man's neck and scattered 
 both blood and brains over the pavement. When he 
 ^ See " Beauclerc," on p. 146. 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 165 
 
 had done this, he called out to the others, "Knigrhts, 
 let us away, this man will rise up no more." 
 
 The King- was greatly troubled when he heard of 
 what had been done. There was nothing that he 
 would not do to show his grief. He even went to the 
 cathedral, and kneeling down in the place where 
 Becket had been slain, submitted to be scourged by 
 one of the monks. King Henry died in 1 189, sorely 
 troubled by the ill behaviour of his sons. 
 
 CHAPTER XXn. 
 
 KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 
 
 The Crusades were expeditions undertaken by 
 Christian nations at various times between the years 
 1095 and 1268, for the purpose of recovering out of the 
 hands of its Mahometan conquerors the city of Jeru- 
 salem. The name Crusade is derived from one of the 
 words which mean cross. This is in Latin crux, and in 
 one kind of Old French crois, as in Modern French it 
 is croix. Those who went on these expeditions were 
 said to " take the cross," because they wore this as a 
 badge, to show that they were going to redeem from 
 the power of the unbelievers the city where Christ 
 suffered on the cross. 
 
1 66 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 The First Crusade was announced by the Pope in 
 1095. A monk called Peter the Hermit, in the 
 following year, set out with a great number of men 
 to the Holy Land. They were not prepared for the 
 expedition, and nearly all perished before they got 
 there. There were three other attempts of the same 
 kind in that year, all of which failed, but in August 
 1096 the real Crusade, under Godfrey, Count of 
 Bouillon, set out. Nearly three years afterwards, 
 Jerusalem was taken, and Godfrey was made king. 
 
 The Second Crusade began in 1 146 and ended in 
 1 149. In 1 1 87 Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, took Jeru- 
 salem. To recover it again out of his hand the Third 
 Crusade was resolved upon in 1188 by Henry H., 
 King of England, and Philip, King of France, who 
 were joined by Frederic, Emperor of Germany. The 
 war with Saladin was begun by the siege of Acre. 
 This was the Crusade which Richard of England 
 joined soon after the death of his father, Henry H. 
 (July 1 189). 
 
 There were six other Crusades. I shall tell you 
 about the ninth and last in the story of Prince 
 Edward. 
 
 When King Richard — who was called Coeur de 
 Lion, or Lion's Heart — put the army which he had 
 gathered together on shipboard that they might go 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE, 167 
 
 to the Holy Land, he made rules for their good 
 behaviour, and set punishments for such as should 
 offjnd. These were — 
 
 1. If a man slay his comrade on shipboard, let him 
 be bound to the dead man and cast into the sea. 
 
 2. If a man slay his comrade on shore, let him be 
 bound in the same way and be buried alive. 
 
 3. If a man draw his knife to strike another, or 
 strike him so as to shed blood, let him lose his hand. 
 
 4. If a man strike another with his open hand, let 
 him be dipped three times in the sea. 
 
 5. If a man revile another, let him pay an ounce of 
 silver for each reviling. 
 
 6. If a man be found guilty of stealing, let him be 
 shaven, and boiling pitch poured on his head, and 
 feathers be shaken from a pillow on the pitch, and he 
 be put ashore as soon as may be, that all may know 
 him for a thief. 
 
 The King took his pilgrim's staff and scrip from the 
 hands of the Archbishop of Tours. They say that 
 when he leant on the staff, it immediately broke 
 under him. He lingered long on his way, first in 
 Sicily, and afterwards at Cyprus, to which island he 
 went seeking the lady lo whom he was about to be 
 married, for the ship in which she sailed had been 
 carried thither by a storm. 
 
 In the meanwhile they who had been besieging 
 
i68 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the city of Acre had suffered much from war and 
 disease and famine. They began to besiege it on the 
 22nd day of August. Six weeks or thereabouts after 
 
 RECEIVING THE PILGRIM S STAFF. 
 
 1 
 
 this came Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, with a great army, 
 desiring to drive away the Christians from before the 
 town. A fierce battle was fought. At first Saladin 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 169 
 
 was driven back, losing his camp, and not a few of the 
 best of his soldiers, while the Christians also lost many. 
 But before the day was over, Saladin recovered him- 
 self and drove back the Christians in their turn to 
 their camp. There the Grand Master of the Temple 
 was slain with eighteen of his knights. As for 
 Saladin, he lost his eldest son and his nephew, and 
 many others. After this, there came fresh soldiers 
 to the army of the Christians. These now fortified 
 their camp, for they were in no small danger. On 
 the one side was the city of Acre, with a strong 
 garrison that was always prepared to sally out 
 against them, and on the other side was Saladin the 
 Sultan, having an army such as had never before 
 been gathered together in that land, so far as any 
 living man could remember. They were also in 
 great need of provisions, for nothing could be 
 brought to them except by way of the sea. So it 
 happened that, as winter came on and the weather 
 grew bad, and the number of men in the camp was 
 very large, the famine was sore. A loaf that had 
 been sold for one shilling before the coming of the 
 new soldiers was sold for sixty, and the price of a 
 horse was more than forty pounds of English money. 
 Some were slain by the enemy in the siege, and some 
 taken prisoners, but a greater number by far perished 
 with hunger and disease. 
 
ijo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 At last, on the fifth day of June in the year 1191, 
 King Richard sailed from Cyprus on his way to Acre.^ 
 Two days after, he met on the sea, not far from the 
 harbour of Beyrout, a great ship. The King, doubt- 
 ing to whom it belonged, sent one of his officers in a 
 boat, to inquire who commanded it. He brought 
 back word that it belonged to the King of France. 
 But when the King approached, he could hear no 
 word of French, nor see any Christian banner or 
 token. It was a very large ship, and very strongly 
 built, having three great masts, and its sides covered 
 with green and yellow hides.2 One of the sailors 
 said that he had been at Beyrout when the ship was 
 loaded, and that he had seen the cargo which had 
 been put into her, namely, a hundred camel-loads of 
 arms of all kinds, bows, spears, and arrows, together 
 with machines for the throwing of darts and stones. 
 There was also, he said, a great store of provisions, 
 and a number of men, eight hundred chosen Turkish 
 soldiers, and seven Saracen commanders. Besides 
 these stores and men, there was, he said, a great 
 
 1 He had been at Marseilles in the month of August the year 
 before. It took at that time fifteen days to sail with a favour- 
 able wind from Marseilles to Acre. Richard had wasted about 
 nine months in Sicily and Cyprus, where he had been quarrel- 
 ling with Christian princes. 
 
 2 These were intended for protection against Greek fire (see 
 next note), and for ornament. 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 171 
 
 store of Greek fire,^ and two hundred deadly 
 serpents. 
 
 The King, hearing this, sent another messenger. 
 This man brought back the answer that the strangers 
 were men of Genoa bound for Tyre. While he was 
 doubting what this contradiction might mean, one of 
 the seamen confidently declared that the ship belonged 
 to the Saracens. " Cut off my head, or hang me on 
 a tree, if I do not prove this beyond all doubt. Send 
 a galley to follow them without any word of greeting, 
 and see what they will do." 
 
 Thereupon the King sent a galley after the strange 
 ship at full speed. When it came near without offer- 
 ing any greeting, the sailors began to hurl arrows and 
 darts at the crew. When Richard saw this, he com- 
 manded that a general attack should be made upon 
 it. But this was no easy matter, so well was the 
 strange ship manned, and with such force did the 
 missiles fall upon the Christians, being hurled from a 
 vessel of so great a height. Our men, therefore, 
 began to falter, and to relax their efforts. The King, 
 seeing this, exclaimed, " What ! will you let that ship 
 
 1 " Greek fire," so called because it was invented and first 
 used under the Greek Emperors of Constantinople, was a com- 
 pound much used in warfare in the Middle Ages. One recipe 
 for making it gives as the materials, sulphur, dregs of wine, 
 gum, baked salt, pitch, petroleum, and common oil. These 
 were to be boiled together. 
 
172 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 escape unharmed ? After winning so many victories, 
 will you give way like cowards ? Verily you will all 
 deserve to be hanged on gallows if you suffer these 
 enemies to escape." 
 
 Thus encouraged, our men leapt into the sea. 
 Some of them bound the helm of the strange ship 
 with ropes, so that it could no longer be steered. 
 Others climbed up the sides, and scrambling over the 
 bulwarks fell upon the Turks. At one time they had 
 driven them into the forepart of the vessel, but others 
 coming up from the hold drove the boarders back, kill- 
 ing some and compelling the rest to leap overboard. 
 
 And now the King, seeing that the ship could not 
 be taken, with its stores and crew, without great loss, 
 ordered his galleys to charge the enemy and pierce it 
 with their beaks. Accordingly, drawing back a 
 space, they drove against it with all their might, and 
 pierced its sides with their iron beaks. The ship was 
 stove in and began to sink. Thereupon the Turks 
 leapt into the water, where many were slain and 
 many drowned. But the King spared some thirty- 
 and-five of them, namely the officers, and such as 
 were skilled in the managing of engines of war. All 
 the others perished ; all the stores were lost, and the 
 serpents were drowned. Verily, if that ship had got 
 into the harbour of Acre, the town would never have 
 been taken. 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 173 
 
 Certain Saracens, who had been watching what 
 took place from the hills, carried the news to Saladin 
 the Sultan. He, in his rage, plucked the hairs out of 
 his head, crying, " Now I have lost Acre." Through 
 all the hosts of the Saracens there was great weeping 
 and wailing, for in that ship all the flower of their 
 youth had perished. 
 
 The next day King Richard came to Acre. When 
 the news of his coming reached the garrison they 
 began to talk of giving themselves up, for they knew 
 how great a warrior he was. Saladin too was willing 
 to make peace, and he sent to the two kings — for the 
 King of France was there also — pears of Damascus, 
 an abundance of other fruits, and other presents. He 
 would willingly have made peace with them, but 
 Richard was resolved to have Jerusalem given to him, 
 and this Saladin would not do. 
 
 At this time a certain Christian sent messages, 
 written in Greek and Latin and Hebrew, from within 
 the walls, from which the besiegers learnt much about 
 the counsels of the enemy, but who this Christian was 
 they did not know, either then or after the taking of 
 the town. 
 
T74 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE {continued). 
 
 The besiegers were greatly encouraged by the 
 coming of King Richard. "This is the man," they 
 said, " for whom we have waited so long. Now that 
 he is come, the assault will speedily be made, for he 
 is the best of all the warriors in Christendom." But 
 their hopes were delayed for a time by the sickness 
 which came upon him a few days after his coming. 
 This sickness held him for ten days or more. The 
 King of France also suffered from the same, as did 
 others in the host. The Count of Flanders was so 
 ill that he died. 
 
 As soon as the King of France was recovered of his 
 sickness, he busied himself with setting up engines of 
 war in such places as seemed best. There he kept 
 them at work day and night. To one of these engines, 
 that was of great power, he gave the name of " The 
 Bad Neighbour." The Turks within the city had one 
 with which they answered this, calling it " The Bad 
 Kinsman." Often did they destroy King Philip's 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 175 
 
 engine, but it was as often repaired. At last it broke 
 down a great part of the chief wall of the city, and 
 shattered also a certain tower which was called the 
 "Accursed Tower." The Duke of Burgundy had 
 also an engine, as had the Knights of the Temple, 
 and the Knights of the Hospital of St. John, with 
 which they did very great damage to the Turks. 
 
 Besides all these, there was a stone-sling which was 
 called " God's Stone-sling." Near to this a certain 
 priest preached continually, begging money for its 
 repairing, and for paying those who gathered stones 
 for it. King Richard himself had two stone-slings, 
 marvellously made, with which he could hit the mark 
 at an incredible distance. Another engine he had 
 that was called "The Belfry," covered with closely- 
 fitting hides, so that it could not be burnt with Greek 
 fire, nor destroyed by stones. 'Tis certain that a 
 single stone discharged by one of the King's engines 
 slew twelve men. This stone was sent for Salad in to 
 look at. 
 
 The King of the French had also various imple- 
 ments and engines of war. One of these was a 
 contrivance made of hurdles, strongly bound together, 
 and covered with raw hides. Under this the KInsf 
 would sit, his cross-bow in his hand, watching if any 
 Turk should show himself on the walls. One day the 
 Turks threw a quantity of Greek fire on to this thing, 
 
176 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 aiming at it at the same time with a stone-sHng. 
 Between the two, it was utterly destroyed, to the great 
 wrath of the King, who in his rage proclaimed, by the 
 voice of a herald, a general assault for the next day. 
 
 On that same day Saladin had declared that he 
 would cross the trenches and destroy the whole army 
 of the Christians. He did not keep his word, but sent 
 his lieutenant in his place. Under his leading, the 
 Turks attacked the trenches with great fury, and were 
 as firmly resisted by the French. The Turks, dis- 
 mounting from their horses, advanced on foot. The 
 two sides fought hand to hand, using swords, daggers, 
 two-handed axes, and clubs furnished with iron teeth. 
 
 Meanwhile the men that had been set by the King 
 of France to make mines had reached the foundations 
 of the walls, and filling the space which they had 
 made with logs, set them on fire. At last the wall — 
 the beams on which it rested being burnt through — 
 gave way, sloping by degrees, but not falling flat. 
 The Christians ran up to make their way into the 
 town by this place, and the Turks, on the other hand, 
 ran up, resolved to drive them back. 
 
 In this fight a certain Alberic Clements did a very 
 noble thing. Seeing that the French were labouring 
 much but doing little, he cried out, "To-day I will 
 either die or, with God's leave, enter Acre." There- 
 upon he climbed up by the ladder to the top of the 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 177 
 
 wall, and there stood, slaying many of the Turks, who 
 rushed upon him from all sides. But when others 
 sought to follow him, the ladder broke, for it could 
 not bear the number of those that crowded upon it. 
 Some were crashed to death, others were grievously 
 wounded. As for Alberic, he was left alone on the 
 wall, and there perished, pierced by wounds without 
 number. 
 
 King Richard was now so far recovered from his 
 sickness that he could turn his thoughts to the taking 
 of the city. He caused a shed made of hurdles 
 covered with hides to be brought up to the ditch 
 outside the city wall. In shelter of this he put some 
 of the most skilful of his crossbow-men. He was 
 himself carried to the place on silken cushions, and lay 
 there using his cross-bow, with which he was very 
 skilful. Many of the Saracens did he slay with his 
 bolts. 
 
 After this, that his men might be encouraged the 
 sooner to make a breach in the wall, he proclaimed 
 that he would give two gold pieces to every one who 
 should pull a stone from the wall near to the Accursed 
 Tower. This bounty he increased to three and even 
 four gold pieces. Many stones did the young knights 
 with their followers draw out, though the Turks 
 attacked them fiercely all the while. The Turks 
 themselves were in their turn assailed by the 
 
178 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 machines. These hurled the stones with such force 
 that no armour could stand against them. 
 
 At last, when the tower had in this way been 
 brought to the ground, the King's men-at-arms 
 attempted to take the town by storm. But the 
 
 SHOOTING WITH THE CROSS-BOW. 
 
 Turks came up in great numbers to resist them. 
 At close quarters they fought with each other, hand 
 against hand, and sword against sword. But as the 
 English were few, and the Turks increased in number, 
 the men-at-arms were compelled to retreat. Some 
 
KING RICHARDS CRUSADE. 179 
 
 were slain with the sword, and not a few perished by 
 the Greek fire, for the Turks used this abundantly. 
 
 The next day the leaders of the Turks offered to 
 give up the city on condition that all the garrison 
 should be suffered to depart with their arms and their 
 goods. The King of France was willing to accept 
 the condition, but King Richard would not enter an 
 empty city after so long a siege. 
 
 Not long afterwards the city was surrendered on 
 the terms that follow. The Turks should restore 
 the Holy Cross, should give up such Christian 
 captives as they had, and should pay a great sum of 
 money for their lives, they being suffered to go 
 whither they would without arms or food, and carry- 
 ing nothing but their shirts. They should also 
 surrender, as hostages for the due performance of 
 these terms, the noblest of their number. 
 
i8o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 KING Richard's crusade {continued)-, the king 
 
 OF FRANCE GOES BACK. 
 
 After these things, the King of Fiance left the 
 Crusade and went to his own country. He said that 
 it was better that there should be one king rather 
 than two to command the army. But some would 
 have it that he went to lay hands on the possessions 
 of a certain great noble that had died during the 
 siege of Acre. He left a part of his troops behind 
 him. 
 
 King Richard built again and strengthened the 
 walls of Acre. This done, he marched to Joppa. On 
 the way Saladin made a fierce attack on his rear- 
 guard, but was beaten with such loss as he had not 
 suffered for forty years before. The King found Joppa 
 deserted by the Saracens. There he had a narrow 
 escape of his life. He walked to a garden about a 
 mile from the town, and falling asleep after his walk 
 was attacked by a company of the enemy. Jumping 
 immediately upon his horse, which a squire was hold- 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. iSi 
 
 ing not far away, he defended himself sturdily against 
 the assailants. But he was in great danger. One of 
 his attendants was taken prisoner, and another killed. 
 One of the two horses, also, which had been taken 
 for his use, was captured and its driver killed. The 
 King fought his way through the enemy, but he left 
 behind him a very costly girdle, ornamented with 
 gold and precious s*tones. The horse was sent back 
 by Saladin's brother. 
 
 After this the King took a great caravan which 
 was coming from Babylon with provisions and arms 
 for Jerusalem. His spies brought him tidings of its 
 coming ; so, taking five thousand picked men with 
 him, he fell upon it as it was on its way about sunrise. 
 Nearly all the soldiers that guarded it were killed, 
 and three thousand camels were taken, with four 
 thousand horses and mules, and an immense quantity 
 of booty. 
 
 Every battle that the King fought he won, and 
 every town that he attacked he took ; but the great 
 thing for which he had come on the Crusade, the 
 delivering of Jerusalem out of the hand of the un- 
 believers, he could not accomplish. He came near to 
 the Holy City indeed, as near as the village of 
 Bethany, which is but two miles away ; but the city 
 itself he did not attempt to take. They say that he 
 would not even look at it, since he could not deliver 
 
t82 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 it, as he had desired. He himself laid the blame upon 
 the King of France, who had drawn back from the 
 work. Nevertheless, there were some who said that 
 he might have done more had he been more steady 
 in his purpose, and that he was in truth weary of the 
 task which he had undertaken. 
 
 The King went back to Acre, intending to take 
 ship, and so return to England. When Saladin heard 
 this, he marched with all haste to Joppa, and fell 
 upon the town. This he took, the garrison, and 
 so many of the inhabitants as were able, taking 
 refuge in the citadel. So soon as the news came 
 to the King, he set out to help them. The main 
 part of the army he sent by land, going himself 
 with seven galleys by sea. When he came to Joppa 
 he found the shore covered with enemies, and his 
 knights advised him to wait till the army should 
 arrive. While the council was being held, a priest 
 swam out from the town to the King's ship. They 
 asked him how things were in the town. He 
 answered, " Many of the people have been slain by 
 the unbelievers, but some have fled into the tower, 
 and still hold out." When the King heard this, he 
 cried, " Cursed be the man who will not follow me ! " 
 and leapt into the water. Many followed him ; nor 
 did the enemy on the shore wait for his coming, but 
 fled, leaving the town. 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 183 
 
 The next day King Richard led out some three 
 score knights and two thousand foot-soldiers by one 
 of the gates of the town. He commanded the men 
 to kneel with one knee upon the ground ; they held 
 with one arm a shield that covered the body, with the 
 other a lance, the end of which was firmly fixed in the 
 ground. Behind the hne of the kneeling men were 
 the engines that cast the arrows, each with two men 
 to manage it. One man put in the arrow, another 
 pulled the string.^ Seven times did Saladin's horse- 
 men charge the line, and seven times were they beaten 
 back. Then King Richard himself charged in turn. 
 Never did a warrior bear himself more bravely. He 
 bore down every champion that came against him. 
 He saved from captivity knights of his own army 
 that had been thrown from their horses and taken 
 prisoner. When the enemy surrounded him, he cut 
 his way out from the midst of them. While he was 
 so fighting, his horse was wounded, and Saladin's 
 brother, perceiving it, sent another one for him to 
 ride. 
 
 After this day the enemy gave up the siege of 
 Joppa ; but the King fell ill of a fever. So weak did he 
 become, that he was content to ask for a truce, and 
 
 1 Put rifles for engines and bayonets for spears, and the King's 
 way of putting his men is a little like the "hollow square" in 
 which our soldiers fight at the present time. 
 
1 84 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 this Saladin was willing to grant. It was agreed that 
 there should be peace for three years, and Saladin 
 promised that pilgrims should be suffered to visit the 
 Holy Sepulchre without being harmed or hindered. 
 
 So soon as his sickness permitted, the King returned 
 to Acre and then took ship. When he was about to 
 pass out of sight of the shore, he turned to it, and 
 stretching out his arms said, " Most Holy Land, I 
 commit thee to the care of the Almighty. May He 
 grant me life, that I may return and save thee from 
 the bondage of the unbeliever ! " 
 
 After various adventures the King was thrown by 
 a storm on the coast of Austria. He had put on a 
 pilgrim's dress, and had suffered his beard and hair to 
 grow, and so hoped to pass unknown through the 
 country. He knew that the ruler of the land had no 
 good-will to him, for they had quarrelled during the 
 siege of Acre. He sent, therefore, his page to a neigh- 
 bouring castle with a present to the prince of the 
 place, asking that passports might be given to Baldwin 
 and Hugh the merchant, pilgrims returning home 
 from Jerusalem. The lad took with him a fine ruby, 
 as a gift to the prince. When the prince saw this, 
 he cried out, " This is a king's gift. It is King 
 Richard himself. Tell him that he may come to me in 
 peace." But the King was afraid that some evil might 
 be done, and having bought horses for himself and 
 
KING RICHARD'S CRUSADE. 185 
 
 his companions, he fled in the night. The horses 
 were not sufficient for all ; eight of the company 
 remained. The King and seven knights escaped. 
 When they came to the dominions of the next prince 
 — he was brother of him that saw the ruby — a 
 Norman knight that was in the prince's service knew 
 the King, and warned him of his danger. Then the 
 King fled again, taking with him one knight only, and 
 a lad that knew the language of the country. For 
 three days they travelled, neither entering any house 
 nor buying any food ; but on the fourth day, all their 
 store being spent, they sent the lad to market. The 
 townspeople, seeing the money that he showed, asked 
 him about his master. " He is a rich merchant," said 
 the lad ; " and he will be here in three days." The 
 King was now ill, and could not travel. When the lad 
 went again to the market, the townspeople seized 
 him and tortured him till he told his master's name, 
 and the place where he was. So Richard was caught, 
 Leopold, Duke of Austria, taking possession of him, 
 and putting him into a prison. After a while the 
 Duke sold him to the Emperor of Germany, and the 
 Emperor, when he had kept him in prison for more 
 than a year, set him at liberty, receiving from England 
 a ransom of more than ;^200,ooo. 
 
 Richard was made prisoner on December 20, 1192, 
 and set at liberty on February 4, 1194. There is a 
 
i86 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 very pretty story of how his favourite minstrel, Blondel 
 by name, found out the place where he was kept in 
 
 RICHARD IN PRISON ; AND RICHARD WOUNDED. 
 
 prison. He went about singing the first bar of a song 
 which the King and he had composed between them. 
 
MAGNA CHART A. 187 
 
 When at last he got to Richard's prison, he sang the 
 first bar as usual, and was answered by the King 
 singing the second. But this story seems not to have 
 been written till hundreds of years after King 
 Richard's time ; and we may suppose it to be like 
 the British minstrels' stories of Vortigern and King 
 Arthur, partly fanciful, and partly true, for King 
 Richard really was put in prison, and was fond of 
 music and poetry. 
 
 Five years after his release, Richard was shot in the 
 shoulder by an archer, as he was besieging a castle in 
 France. The wound was not in itself mortal, but was 
 so ill treated by an unskilful surgeon that the King 
 died. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 MAGNA CHARTA. 
 
 King Richard was succeeded by his brother 
 John. Of all English kings he was the worst, — worse 
 even than the Red King, being not only wicked, but 
 weak. Yet from this weakness and wickedness there 
 came, as we shall see, great good to the English 
 people. 
 
1 88 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The chief nobles of England, seeing that no trust 
 could be put in the King, and that his wrong-doing 
 and oppression became worse from year to year, met 
 
 NORMAN NOBLES. 
 
 together at St. Edmundsbury in the county of 
 Suffolk, to devise means how they might best secure 
 the liberties of the people. Having agreed together 
 
MAGNA CHART A. 189 
 
 Upon what things they should ask for this end, they 
 also came to this resolve, that they would ask them at 
 the Christmas next following, when the King should 
 hold his court, to keep Christmas, as was the custom 
 in those days. 
 
 This done, they went up, one by one, to the altar, 
 and took an oath that if the King should refuse the 
 things for which they asked, they would make war 
 upon him, nor consent to peace till he should have 
 granted them. At Christmas they could not get to 
 speak with him, for he knew that they meant to ask 
 what he was very loth to give ; but twelve days 
 afterwards they saw him and made their demands. 
 After a while, it was agreed that the matter should be 
 put off till Easter. 
 
 When Easter came the King was no more willing 
 to yield than he had been before. He sent mes- 
 sengers to the nobles to ask them to write down their 
 demands. But when he saw the paper, he cried out, 
 " They might as well ask my crown of me ! Shall I 
 give them liberties that would make me a slave .'* " 
 But when he heard that London had gone over to the 
 party of the nobles, with whom, 1 should say, was 
 Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury, he 
 thought it better to yield, though he was resolved in 
 his heart to go back from his promises as soon as he 
 should be able. Therefore, on the 19th day of June, 
 
I90 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 in the year 121 5 (being the seventeenth year of his 
 reign), King John and the nobles met on an island in 
 the Thames, called Runnymede,that is between Egham 
 and Staines, and signed what is called the Great 
 Charter. By this it was provided, among other 
 things — 
 
 1. That the Church of England should be free. 
 
 2. That the King should not oppress the nobles, 
 
 nor the nobles such as were under them. 
 
 3. That London and the other cities and towns of 
 
 the kingdom should enjoy the freedom which 
 they had before possessed. 
 
 4. That causes of law should be tried in a fixed 
 
 place. 
 
 5. That weights and measures should be the same 
 
 everywhere. 
 
 6. That the King should not sell, or refuse, or 
 
 postpone the doing of justice. 
 
 7. That every free man should be safe both for his 
 
 person and his property from all damages, 
 
 except such as might be done by the lawful 
 
 judgment of his equals, or by the law of the 
 
 land. 
 
 For all that remained of his life the King tried to 
 
 undo what had been done by the signing of the 
 
 Charter. He declared war against the nobles ; he 
 
 hired soldiers from abroad to fight for him, and he 
 
MAGNA CHARTA. 191 
 
 obtained from the Pope a declaration that the Charter 
 was null and void. On the other hand, the nobles 
 sent to the oldest son of the King of France, if he 
 would come over and help them. So there was civil 
 war in the country — Englishmen fighting against 
 Englishmen. But about twenty months after the 
 signing of the Charter the King died. He was 
 marching from Lincoln to King's Lynn, which is on 
 the south side of the Wash, and in crossing the Wash 
 he lost his baggage with all his treasure. Not many 
 days after— on October the 19th — he died, but whether 
 from trouble of mind, or from poison, or from some 
 natural disease, is not known for certain. As for the 
 Charter, the Kings of England have often tried to set 
 it aside, but have never succeeded in so doing. One 
 after another they have been forced to confirm it, and 
 it is the foundation of English liberty. 
 
192 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 
 
 When King John died, his son Henry HI. was a 
 boy of nine years old. He reigned for fifty-six years, 
 longer than any English sovereign, except George HI. 
 and Queen Victoria. He was married in 1236 to 
 Eleanor, daughter of the Count of Provence, when 
 he had been King for twenty years. 
 
 His eldest son was born on the 1 8th day of June, 
 in the year 1239, and had the name of Edward given 
 to him, to the no small pleasure of the people. For 
 near a hundred and fifty years the kings had had 
 French names, as William and Henry and Richard 
 and John. But Edward was an English name, and 
 the King that bore it would be English. He grew to 
 be a tall and handsome youth, a brave soldier, one 
 who loved to do justice, and who kept his word. 
 
 In his youth, while his father was alive, Prince 
 Edward had many troubles. For the King was weak 
 and favoured foreigners, as, for example, the kindred 
 of his wife. These he put in offices of State, and 
 
THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 193 
 
 handed over to their keeping the strongest castles in 
 the land. After a while the nobles of the land banded 
 themselves together, and compelled the King to 
 banish the strangers from England, and to put the 
 castles into their hands. There was also to be a 
 council of twenty-four who were to manage all the 
 affairs of the kingdom. The King took an oath that 
 he would do these things, and abide by the agreement 
 which he had made. This oath Prince Edward also 
 took. 
 
 After a while, the King, finding that the nobles had 
 all the power in their hands, desired to depart from 
 his agreement, but Prince Edward was not willing, for 
 he was steadfast in keeping all the promises that he 
 made. After much strife and contention it was 
 settled that King Louis of France should be made 
 judge of the whole matter, and then, having heard the 
 cause of the King on the one hand and of the nobles 
 on the other, should decide between them. These, 
 therefore, he heard, and afterwards gave his judgment, 
 which was this : " Let the agreement be annulled, and 
 let the King have his castles again and his govern- 
 ment as before." The nobles were greatly displeased 
 at this judgment and would not accept it; but Prince 
 Edward, feeling that he was now quit of his oath, took 
 sides with his father, a thing which he had before 
 been unwilling to do. 
 
194 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 And now war broke out. It was proclaimed on the 
 3rd day of April, in the year 1264; and on the 13th 
 day of May in that year the two armies met in battle, 
 near the town of Lewes in Sussex. Simon de Mont- 
 fort, who called himself Earl of Leicester, commanded 
 the army of the nobles, while the army of the King 
 was led by the King himself and his brother and Prince 
 Edward, this last being at the right end of the line. 
 
 It so chanced that a great company of the Lon- 
 doners were ranged in that part of the line which was 
 opposite to the Prince. Now some months before, 
 the men of London had grievously insulted the Queen, 
 the Prince's mother, pelting her with stones and mud, 
 as she came up the river Thames in her barge. , The 
 cause of their anger was that they blamed her more 
 than any other for the favour shown to foreigners, as 
 has been said before. The Prince was eager to take 
 vengeance for this insult, and he charged the men 
 of London with great fury, breaking their line, and 
 driving them before him with much slaughter. 
 
 But while the Prince was pursuing his enemies, 
 which, indeed, he did with more zeal and fierceness 
 than was expedient, Simon de Montfort, who was 
 skilful as a general before all the men of his time, fell 
 upon the other part of the King's army, and overcame 
 it. Many fled, many were slain, and not a few were 
 taken prisoners. 
 
THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 
 
 195 
 
 That ni^ht Simon de Montfort sent certain friars 
 to the King with this message : " I greatly desire 
 peace ; to the end that it may be made, I will set free 
 all the prisoners whom I have taken. As for the 
 matters that are in dispute, let us appoint six wise 
 and honourable men to decide what shall be done. 
 
 ^^'V^ 
 
 Only for a pledge let the King and Prince Edward 
 give themselves into my keeping." 
 
 When he heard this, the Prince, who had before 
 desired to renew the battle on the next day, con- 
 sented to become a prisoner. For a time Simon 
 carried him about whithersoever he went. But after 
 a while he escaped in this manner. A certain noble 
 
196 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 who visited him sent him as a present a very swift 
 and strong horse. This on a certain day he bade a 
 servant take out as if for exercise, only the man was 
 to take care that wherever the Prince might be, the 
 horse should be near at hand. The Prince then pro- 
 posed to the m.en that were with him, watching him 
 that he did not escape, that they should ride races. 
 This they did, but when the horses of all were well 
 tired, the servant came bringing with him the horse 
 which he had in his charge. On this the Prince 
 mounted and rode away, at the same time bidding 
 farewell to his guards, and saying that he had had 
 enough of their company. For a while they pursued 
 him, but were easily outstripped. And when, having 
 gone some way, they saw a party of horsemen come 
 forth to greet him, they perceived that he was now 
 out of their reach, and so returned to their own 
 people. 
 
 So soon as the Prince was at liberty, many left the 
 side of the nobles and joined themselves to him, so 
 that day by day he grew stronger and they weaker. 
 At last the end came about in this manner. The 
 Prince came by surprise on the army which Earl 
 Simon's son was leading to the help of his father. 
 He and his men should by right have taken up their 
 abode in the Castle of Kenilworth, but for comfort's 
 sake they lodged in the village ; nor, so careless were 
 
THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 197 
 
 they, did they set any guard. The Prince's men fell 
 on them while they slept, for it was scarcely dawn. 
 Some were slain, some taken, and many fled without 
 their arms, and also in a single garment. Among 
 the prisoners were twenty knights with their banners. 
 
 Having done this, the Prince made as if he would 
 march northward. But when the Earl Simon's spies 
 had gone to him with this news, he turned suddenly 
 to the east, and so approached before Earl Simon was 
 aware. But when he had come so near that his men 
 must needs be seen, he put in the front of his army 
 the banners which he had taken. When Simon saw 
 them, he said, knowing them to be the banners of his 
 own friend, " It is well ; my son comes to my help." 
 Being thus deceived, he suffered the Prince to take 
 up a strong place upon a hill that was near, without 
 seeking to hinder him. 
 
 In the meanwhile one Nicholas, that was the Earl's 
 barber, climbed to the top of a church-tower that was 
 close by, and when he saw what had happened he 
 cried out, " My lord, this is not your son's army, as 
 you think, for I see in the front the Prince's banner, 
 and on one side the banner of the Earl of Gloucester, 
 and on the other the banner of Roger Mortimer." 
 Thereupon the Earl himself v/ent up to the top of the 
 tower, and when he saw them, he said, " They come 
 on right skilfully ; but they have learnt it from 
 
198 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 me." And when, looking further, he saw how many- 
 there were of them, and how he must needs be sur- 
 rounded, he said again, " The Lord have mercy on 
 our souls ! our bodies belong to the Prince." His son 
 would have had him flee while he had yet time, but 
 the old man was not willing. " Far be it from me," 
 he said, '' so to end an honourable life ! " There was 
 no hope of victory ; not only was the Prince's army 
 by far the stronger, but the greater part of Earl 
 Simon's men fled when they saw the enemy approach. 
 He, with many nobles and knights about him, stood 
 firm, and for some time Prince Edward, for all that 
 he could do, could not break the line. But when the 
 Earl of Gloucester came upon him from behind, there 
 was an end of the battle. Earl Simon himself was 
 killed, as were most of his comrades and followers ; 
 few were spared that day, for the hatred between the 
 two parties that fought was very bitter, as it always 
 is in civil war. King Henry himself, who was with the 
 Earl's army, was at one time in no small danger, 
 being attacked by his son's soldiers. Not till he 
 cried out, " I am Henry of Winchester," did they 
 leave him alone. 
 
 And now the Prince set himself to establish peace 
 and order throughout England. Those that had 
 taken part with Earl Simon were punished with 
 fines ; but none were put to death, for Edward was 
 
THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 199 
 
 always inclined to mercy. But when the civil war 
 was ended, much still remained to be done. In 
 many parts of the country there were men who had 
 taken occasion by the late troubles to plunder their 
 neighbours. It is said that the Prince, having heard 
 of one of these, named Adam Gordon, who had his 
 hiding-place in part of the New Forest, went to seek 
 him. When he found him he challenged him to 
 fight, bidding his followers leave them alone. Both 
 were strong and skilful in arms, but at last the Prince 
 w^ounded his adversary, who thereupon gave himself 
 up and was pardoned. From that time this robber 
 became a faithful follower of Prince Edward. 
 
 And now, all things being quiet, the Prince be- 
 thought him of a vow which he had made, namely, 
 that he would make a journey to the Holy Land. It 
 so happened that at this time King Louis of France 
 was preparing a Crusade. He was glad to have so 
 valiant and skilful a soldier wath him, and persuaded 
 the Prince to join him. As for King Louis, he never 
 reached the Holy Land. He and his army went to 
 Tunis, in Africa, where he died of the plague, as did 
 many of his soldiers. Prince Edward waited long 
 for him, but at last, losing all hope of his coming, 
 went with such men as he had, scarcely a thousand in 
 all, to his journey's end. The town of Acre, which 
 alone remained of all that had been w^on by the 
 
200 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Christian armies, was besieged by the Turks, and 
 hard pressed. The Prince, while he waited for King 
 Louis, had promised the garrison that he would help 
 them, and was resolved, according to his custom, to 
 keep his word. Some of his followers would have 
 persuaded him to return to England, and some 
 actually left him.^ But the Prince would not be 
 persuaded. " Nay," said he, " to Acre I will go, 
 though none but my groom go with me." Setting 
 sail, he reached Acre just in time to save it from 
 being taken. The garrison had agreed to surrender 
 the town to the Turks on the fourth day, unless help 
 should come to them before. Many Christians now 
 joined the Prince's army, till he had nine thousand 
 men. With these he marched to the town of 
 Nazareth, and took it by storm. 
 
 Not long after this he narrowly escaped death. 
 An assassin,^ sent by the enemy, made some pretence 
 of having a message for him, and so got into his tent. 
 He then stabbed him three times with a dagger. 
 Then the Prince leaping up threw him to the ground, 
 
 ^ Among these was his cousin Henry, son of his uncle, the 
 Earl of Cornwall. He was murdered in Italy, on his way back, 
 by two of the sons of Simon de Montfort. 
 
 2 The "Assassins" were followers of a chief who was known 
 as " The Old Man of the Mountain." They bound themselves 
 to murder any person whom he wished to kill. Their name 
 comes from the word hashishin^ which means " one who chews 
 Iiashishy^ hashish being an intoxicating gum made from hemp. 
 
THE STORY OF PRINCE EDWARD. 201 
 
 and killed him with his own dagger. But, though the 
 wounds were not mortal, the surgeons that waited on 
 the Prince could not heal them, and, fearing lest 
 perchance the dagger had been poisoned, began to 
 fear for his life. He saw that they whispered, and 
 said, " Why do you whisper } Can I not be cured .'' 
 Tell me without fear." They said, " We can cure 
 you, but you must suffer great pain." ''And then 
 you promise that you will cure me t " " Yes, we 
 promise." " Then I put myself in your hands. Do 
 with me what you will." 
 
 Not many days after this the enemy sent mes- 
 sengers to treat for peace, and the Prince, seeing that 
 he had not sufficient strength to accomplish that 
 for which he had come, namely, to take the city of 
 Jerusalem, consented. 
 
 Peace having been made, the Prince set out on his 
 return to England. While he was on his way, he 
 became King, his father having died. Everywhere 
 he was received with great honour, excepting at one 
 town in Burgundy. The Count of this place invited 
 him to a tournament, and Edward, though he had 
 been warned that some evil was meant, did not 
 refuse to go. At the tournament the Count himself 
 encountered the King, but, though he was very tall 
 and strong, gained no advantage over him. Being 
 angered at this, he threw away his sword and lance, 
 
202 STORIES FROM -ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 and catching the King round the neck, sought thus to 
 drag him from his horse. This he could not do, but 
 was himself dragged from his saddle, when the King 
 spurred his horse. Edward, wroth at such behaviour, 
 which was contrary to the rules of a tournament, 
 beat the knight as he lay upon the ground with the 
 staff of his lance ; nor would he receive the Count's 
 sword, when he would have submitted himself, but 
 bade him give it into the hands of a man-at-arms. 
 The Count's followers were much enraged by this, 
 and fell upon the English. What had begun as a 
 game was turned into a fight, and not a few were 
 killed. Then, when the Burgundian knights had 
 been driven off the field, the townspeople took up 
 their cause, and wounded many of the English, nor 
 would they cease till the King threatened that he 
 would burn the town. 
 
 The history of King Edward cannot be conveni- 
 ently told in this place. It must be enough to say 
 that he conquered Wales, which country has re- 
 mained since his time a part of England, and that 
 he came near to conquering Scotland, and that he 
 was as wise a king as ever ruled this realm. But of 
 what he did, and of what laws he made, with the 
 consent of the people — for that he looked for this 
 is a notable proof of his wisdom — you will read 
 elsewhere. 
 
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 20; 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 
 
 Edward I. set his heart on making one kingdom 
 of the island of Great Britain. First he conquered 
 Wales ; and to his son Edward, who was born just 
 then in the Welsh town of Carnarvon, he gave the 
 title of Prince of Wales.^ Then he set himself to 
 bring Scotland under his power. When it was 
 doubtful who ought to be king, he was asked to 
 decide, and he decided in favour of John Baliol, who 
 was ready to acknowledge him as his superior. But 
 the Scotch people were very unwilling to submit. 
 John Baliol revolted, and Edward marched into 
 Scotland, deposed him, and put English garrisons 
 into the strong places. The Scotch rose against 
 them under William Wallace, and defeated the 
 English at Stirling (this was in 1297 A.D.) Then 
 King Edward marched again into Scotland, de- 
 feated Wallace at Falkirk (1298), and conquered 
 the country. Wallace escaped at the time, but was 
 
 1 " A Prmce of Wales," as he is said to have told the Welsh 
 people, " who could not speak a word of English." 
 
204 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 betrayed seven years afterwards, and executed as a 
 traitor in London. The Scotch rose again under 
 Robert Bruce. Edward was about to invade the 
 country a third time when he died (at Burgh-on-Sands, 
 in 1307). When he was dying he entreated his son 
 (afterwards Edward II.) to carry on the war. It is 
 said that he commanded that his bones should be 
 carried in a chest with the army, so that even after 
 his death he might still be helping to carry out his 
 purpose. Edward II. paid no attention to these 
 requests, but gave up the expedition. For the next 
 seven years Robert Bruce became more and more 
 powerful, and the English weaker. King Edward 
 twice invaded Scotland, but both times failed to do 
 anything. He was very unlike the great king his 
 father, being careless and fond of pleasure ; and thus 
 all that Edward I. had gained in Scotland was lost 
 by his son. So England and Scotland remained 
 separate kingdoms for three hundred years more. 
 
 The English garrison in Stirling Castle, which was 
 now almost the only strong place that was held in 
 Scotland for King Edward, was hard pressed by the 
 Scotch. Its commander offered to give it up to the 
 besiegers, if he did not receive help by Midsummer 
 Day (June 24). This was in the year 1 3 14. When 
 King Edward heard that the castle was in danger, 
 he sent out messengers calling all the soldiers in 
 
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 205 
 
 England to meet at Berwick-on-Tweed on the nth 
 day of June. Besides the English there was to be 
 a great body of soldiers from Ireland. Altogether 
 nearly one hundred thousand men assembled at 
 Berwick. Robert Bruce had not been able to collect 
 half as many. 
 
 King Edward now marched forward to relieve the 
 castle (which was about ninety miles from Berwick). 
 He reached it on Sunday, the 23rd of June, one day 
 before the time on which it was to surrender. Robert 
 Bruce had drawn up his army in three squares ; these 
 three made one line, which reached from the brook 
 of Bannock to the castle. Behind them was a fourth 
 division, in which were the Highlanders and the men 
 of the Western Isles and Bruce's own followers. In 
 front of the line he caused some pits to be dug; in 
 these sharp-pointed stakes were fixed, and they were 
 covered over with brushwood. 
 
 King Edward, as soon as he came in sight of the 
 castle, sent a body of cavalry which was to make a 
 round, and so getting past the line of the Scottish 
 soldiers, to relieve the castle. Bruce saw what was 
 going on, and blamed his nephew Randolph for letting 
 the English horsemen pass him. " Randolph," he 
 said to him, "a rose has fallen from your crown." 
 Randolph at once rode off with a body of Scottish 
 cavalry, and charged the English furiously. At one 
 
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCI^BURN. 207 
 
 time it seemed as if they would be too strong for 
 him, and Sir James Douglas went with part of the 
 second division to help him. But just as he came 
 up, he saw that the English were giving way ; there- 
 upon he held his soldiers back. "We will not make 
 the glory of these brave men less," he said. Bruce 
 himself did a gallant deed that day. An English 
 knight, Sir Henry de Bohun, rode out of the English 
 line, mounted on a war-horse. Bruce went out to 
 meet him ; all could see that he was king by the 
 crown on his helmet. He was riding on a small 
 palfrey, and he was armed with a battle-axe. The 
 EngHsh knight rode furiously at him with his spear 
 in rest ; but Bruce avoided the stroke, and, rising in 
 his stirrups as the knight passed him, struck him 
 a great blow on his helmet. The battle-axe was 
 shivered to pieces, but the helmet was broken in, and 
 Sir Henry de Bohun fell dead to the ground. This 
 happened on the day before the battle. 
 
 Early on Midsummer Day the first line of the 
 English army began to move forward ; a little behind 
 came the main body, which was led by King Edward 
 himself. As they advanced, they saw the whole line 
 of the Scottish army kneel down. A priest was 
 praying to God to help them in the battle, and all 
 the soldiers kneeled as they joined in the prayer. 
 " See ! " cried some of the English ; " they are 
 
2oS STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 begging for mercy." " Yes," answered one of the 
 knights, " they are begging for mercy ; but it is from 
 God." And now it could be seen how well Bruce 
 had chosen his place. The English army was more 
 than twice as large as the Scottish ; but only a part 
 of it could get near the enemy. Some of the 
 divisions had nothing to do with the fighting from 
 the beginning to the end of the battle. They could 
 not get near enough to strike a blow. Still there 
 were some who fought well. There was a body of 
 archers who poured their arrows fast and thick into 
 the ranks of the Scottish soldiers, and struck many 
 of them to the earth. When Bruce saw what 
 damage they were doing, he sent a company of 
 horsemen to charge them from the side. The archers 
 had no swords with which to defend themselves, and 
 when they were attacked in this way, they could not 
 hold their ground, but broke and fled. The English 
 line first stopped, then wavered, then began to fall 
 back. When Bruce saw this he led his own division 
 forward. The English knights charged fiercely; but 
 many of them fell into the pits. Their horses were 
 lamed, and they themselves thrown. Still the Eng- 
 lighmen, being brave men, and accustomed to win 
 battles, held out. Then, all of a sudden, there 
 appeared upon the hills what seemed to be a new 
 Scottish army. They were only the servants and 
 
THE BATTLE OF BANNOCKBURN. 209 
 
 camp-followers ; but they had banners with them, 
 and shouted like soldiers. This was more than the 
 English could bear. For all that their leaders could 
 do, they turned and fled. The slaughter was terrible ; 
 for there had been war between the two nations for 
 many years, and there were many things to avenge. 
 Twenty-seven barons, two hundred knights, and 
 thirty thousand men were killed that day. As for 
 King Edward himself, he fled from the field of 
 battle ; for sixty miles he rode almost without 
 stopping, except to change his horse. When he 
 reached Dunbar, he got on board ship, and went by 
 sea to Berwick. The brave knight who was with him 
 turned back, after seeing him safely off the field, rode 
 back, charged into the middle of the enemy, and so 
 was killed. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 HOW KING EDWARD III. WON THE BATTLE 
 
 OF SLUYS. 
 
 Edward II. was murdered in 1327. For three 
 years his wicked wife, Isabella of France, with her 
 
 p 
 
2IO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 favourite, Roger Mortimer, ruled in England. Then 
 Mortimer was seized and hanged, and Edward III. 
 began really to reign. About seven years afterwards 
 began what is sometimes called the Hundred Years' 
 War between England and France. For this war 
 there were several causes. 
 
 The King of England possessed a very large part 
 of France. He did homage, indeed, for it to the King 
 of France, but it was really his. The Kings of France, 
 on the other hand, steadily worked to get these 
 provinces into their own power ; and one of the means 
 which they used was to help the Scottish people 
 against England. England was trying to do with 
 Scotland what the French King was trying to do with 
 Anjou, Maine, and other English provinces. 
 
 Then, again, French rovers were busy plundering 
 the English coasts. The Isle of Wight suffered much 
 from them ; so did Sandwich and Rye, and other 
 towns on the south coast. The important port of 
 Southampton was attacked by them, and part of the 
 town was burnt. 
 
 Finally, the English King, provoked by the attacks 
 made on his French possessions, set up a claim to the 
 Crown of France itself, and the chief pretext for this 
 claim was Edward II.'s Queen, Isabella. I will 
 explain how this came about. Philip IV. of France 
 (1268 — 1 3 14) left three sons, Louis, Philip and Charles. 
 
HO IV EDWARD III. WON THE BATTLE OF SLUYS. 211 
 
 Each of these became King in turn, but none of them 
 left a son. By what was called the Salic Law, which 
 was no law at all but only an old custom of the Franks 
 no woman could rule in France. So when Charles IV., 
 the youngest of Philip IV.'s sons, died, Philip of 
 Valois succeeded him, as being the nearest male 
 heir, though he was Charles's second cousin only. 
 But Edward III., by the advice of his Parliament, 
 claimed the French crown as son of Isabella, Charles's 
 sister. He said, " Philip of Valois is second cousin 
 only to the King ; I am his nephew ; so, being more 
 nearly related to him, I have a better right to succeed 
 him." He of course was obliged to allow that a woman 
 could not succeed, not only because that was quite 
 certain in itself, but also because otherwise Joan, 
 daughter of Louis, Philip IV.'s eldest son, would have 
 had a better right than he. But he maintained that 
 though a woman could not herself succeed, her son 
 might inherit, and that when the three sons were dead, 
 the daughter's son had the best right. 
 
 I will now describe the first great battle of the 
 " Hundred Years' War." 
 
 Two days before Midsummer Day in the year 1340, 
 King Edward set sail with his whole fleet from the 
 Thames, and made straight for Sluys, which was a 
 seaport of the country called Flanders. The King 
 
212 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 had it in his mind to help the men of Flanders against 
 the French. Now at Sluys there lay more than one 
 hundred and twenty large ships, and many small ones 
 with them. On board of these were forty thousand 
 men ; some were sailors, and others fighting men and 
 archers from Picardy and Genoa. Certain knights 
 commanded them, and a famous sailor whom they 
 called '* Blackbeard." The King of France had com- 
 manded that they should lie at anchor, waiting for 
 the King of England, that they might hinder him 
 from going any further. When the fleet had almost 
 got to Sluys, the English saw so many masts standing 
 before them that it seemed as if it were a wood. The 
 King said to the captain of his ship, " What can these 
 be .'' " The man answered, " I take it that this must 
 be that fleet of Normans which the King of France 
 keeps at sea. These are they that have done you so 
 much harm, burning your good town of Southampton, 
 and taking your large ship the Christopher.'' To this 
 the King made answer, " I have now for a long time 
 desired to meet with these men ; now, please God and 
 St. George, we will fight with them. In truth they 
 have done me much mischief, and I will revenge 
 myself on them, if it be possible." Thereupon the 
 King caused all his ships to be drawn up in line. 
 The strongest he put in front, and on the wings the 
 ships in which the archers were embarked. Between 
 
HOW EDV/ARD III. WON THE BATTLE OF SLUVS. 213 
 
 every two vessels with archers was placed one with 
 men-at-arms. Other ships, full of archers, he kept in 
 reserve. These were meant to give help to any that 
 might seem to need it. Besides sailors and soldiers, 
 there were in the fleet many ladies from England, 
 countesses, and baronesses, and wives of knights and 
 gentlemen, who had come to attend upon the Queen, 
 for the Queen was at this time in Ghent. To guard 
 these ladies with all care, the King had appointed 
 three hundred men-at-arms and six hundred archers. 
 When the King and his marshal had set the fleet 
 in order, they hoisted all, their sails, so that they 
 might have the sun behind them, for before it had 
 been shining in their faces. This they thought 
 would be against them. When the Normans saw 
 them tack, at first they wondered what this might 
 mean. Afterwards they said, " See, they take good 
 care to turn about, for they are afraid to meddle 
 with us." And indeed the English had before been 
 sailing straight towards them, and now changed their 
 course. When the Normans knew that the King 
 was on board, seeing his banner, they were very glad, 
 for they were very eager to fight with him. So they 
 put their vessels in order, a thing which they did well, 
 being brave and skilful seamen. 
 
 First of all they made the Christopher, a big ship 
 which they had taken from the English the year 
 
214 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 before, fall upon the King's fleet. They had filled it 
 with fighting men, and had put trumpeters on board. 
 With this the battle began, very fiercely. Archers 
 and crossbow-men shot with all their might at each 
 other, and the men-at-arms engaged hand to hand. 
 And that they might not be separated by the moving 
 of the vessels, they had large grapnels, and iron hooks 
 with chains, which they flung from ship to ship to 
 
 CROSSBOW-MEN IN A BOAT. 
 
 moor them to each other. The Christopher, which, as 
 has been said, came first of all the French fleet, was 
 taken again, and all in her were either killed or made 
 prisoners. The English, having taken her, filled her 
 with archers, and sent her against the men of Genoa. 
 
 Never was battle fiercer and more murderous than 
 this. And, indeed, fights at sea are more deadly than 
 fights on land, for none can flee ; every man must stay 
 
THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 215 
 
 where he is and meet his fate. From early in the 
 morning until noon did the battle last. But though 
 the English were hard pressed, for the enemies were 
 four to one, besides being men used to the sea, in the 
 end they won the victory, being somewhat helped by 
 ships that came to them from the harbours on the 
 coast hard by. Scarcely one of the Normans escaped 
 with his life. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 
 
 In July 1346, six years after the battle of Sluys, 
 Edward III. landed at La Hogue in Normandy. 
 His plan was to march eastward and join the 
 Flemings (people of Flanders), who were in alliance 
 with him, and who had themselves invaded France. 
 He got as far as Rouen, but found there that the 
 bridge over the Seine had been broken down, and 
 that King Philip of France was on the opposite bank 
 with a large army. Edward then marched towards 
 Paris, as if he were going to attack it, and when the 
 French king followed him, suddenly turned back, and 
 
2i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 got across the Seine. He then marched on and came 
 to the river Somme. Here again all the bridges had 
 been broken down. Three times he tried to cross the 
 river, but in vain. At last a peasant told him of a 
 ford over the river known as Blanchetaque (from the 
 white stones in the bed of the river). He crossed 
 by this, but not without a fight. Marching a few 
 miles further on he came to a place called Crecy, 
 about ten miles from the ford of Blanchetaque, which 
 is between Abbeville and the sea. Here he deter- 
 mined to fight, and waited for the French king, Vv-ho 
 was following him with an army much larger than 
 his own. For when King Edward came to Crecy, 
 he said, " Let us post ourselves here ; we will not go 
 further till we have seen our enemies. And indeed I 
 have good reason to wait for them in this place ; for 
 this is the inheritance of my mother, which was given 
 to her for a marriage-portion, and I am resolved to 
 defend it against my adversary King Philip." 
 
 Here then the King pitched his camp. That 
 evening — the day was Friday — he gave a supper to 
 the earls and barons of his army. When they were 
 gone, he fell on his knees and prayed to God that, 
 if he fought with his enemies on the morrow, he 
 might come out of the battle with honour. The next 
 morning he and the Prince of Wales received the 
 Holy Communion, as did also the greater part of his 
 
THE BATTLE OF CR&CY. 217 
 
 army. After this he commanded that the army 
 should be drawn up in three divisions. In the first 
 he placed the young Prince of Wales/ with the Earls 
 of Warwick and Oxford, and many other nobles and 
 knights. In this division were about eight hundred 
 men-at-arms, two thousand archers, and a thousand 
 Welshmen. There were in all about eight thousand 
 nine hundred men, of whom about half were archers. 
 
 The army having been thus ordered, the King 
 mounted a small white palfrey, and rode at a foot's 
 pace, having a marshal on either side, throughout all 
 the ranks, encouraging and entreating the army that 
 they would guard his honour and defend the right. 
 When he had gone through all the battalions, it was 
 ten o'clock in the forenoon. He ordered that every 
 rhan should have his meal, and drink a glass after. 
 So the men ate and drank at their ease, sitting on 
 the ground, having their bows and helmets before 
 them on the ground, that they might be the fresher 
 when the enemy should come. 
 
 The King of France and his army had lodged that 
 night at the town of Abbeville, so that by the time 
 they came near to the English they had marched 
 already six miles or more. Four knights rode on to 
 see what they could find out about the English, and 
 these, when they returned, counselled King Philip 
 1 He was then sixteen years of age. 
 
2i8 STOKIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 that he should advance no further that day, but 
 quarter them for the night where they were. " For," 
 said they, "if you will wait till the rear shall come 
 up it will be late, and your men will be weary, but 
 the enemy will be fresh and in good order. Take 
 then your own time, and be sure that they will wait 
 for you." This counsel seemed good to King Philip, 
 and he commanded that it should be done accordingly. 
 So the marshals rode, one to the front, and the other 
 to the rear, crying, "Halt, banners, in the name of 
 God and St. Denys ! " The front indeed halted, but 
 the rear pushed forward, saying that they would not be 
 behind any. And when the front saw this, then they 
 advanced also, and neither the King nor the marshals 
 coirld stop them. So the army marched on till they 
 came within sight of the English. Then the front 
 ranks fell back, to the no small fear of them that 
 were behind, who thought that the fighting had 
 already begun. As for the confusion and bad order- 
 ing of the French, no one could say how great it 
 was, who did not see it. 
 
 The English, on the other hand, when they saw 
 their adversaries approach, stood up from the ground 
 on which they were sitting without fear, and fell into 
 their ranks. The first so to do was the Prince's 
 division, having the archers in front and the men-at- 
 arms in the rear. On either wing was a part of the 
 
THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 219 
 
 second division, drawn up to give him help, if it 
 should be needed. As for the third division, with 
 which was the King himself, it was the hindermost 
 of all. So the English stood in good order, but the 
 French came on just as it seemed good to them, each 
 man going his own way. 
 
 When the King of France first saw the English, his 
 blood began to boil, and he cried to his marshals, 
 "Order the Genoese forward and begin the battle." 
 These Genoese carried cross-bows, and they were 
 some fifteen thousand in number. But they were 
 very weary, for they had marched eighteen miles 
 that day, clad in armour and carrying their cross- 
 bows. They told the Constable of France, " We are 
 not in fit condition to do much this day." There- 
 upon he cried out, " This is what one gets by employ- 
 ing such scoundrels, for when there is most need of 
 them, then they fall off." About this time there was 
 a very heavy rain, with thunder and lightning. Also 
 there was an eclipse of the sun ; and before the rain 
 a great cloud of crows was seen to hover over the 
 two armies, making at the same time a great noise. 
 Then the sun shone out, but so that the Frenchmen 
 had it in their faces, and the Englishmen on their 
 backs. The Genoese being by this time somewhat 
 in order, approached the English, and set up a loud 
 shout, with which they thought to frighten their 
 
220 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 adversaries. But the English stood still and took no 
 heed. Then the Genoese shouted again and came a 
 little forward ; but the English never moved. A 
 third time they cried out, holding their cross-bows 
 forward, and began to shoot. Then the English 
 archers also advanced, taking one step forward, and 
 shot their arrows with such force and quickness that 
 one had thought it snowed. When the Genoese felt 
 the arrows piercing through heads and arms, and 
 through their armour, many of them cut the strings of 
 their cross-bows and cast them on the ground and 
 fled. When the King of France saw them flying, he 
 cried, " Slay these rascals, for they do but hinder us." 
 Then the men-at-arms dashed in among them, and 
 slew many of them ; and all the \vhile the Enghshmen 
 shot where the press was thickest ; the men-at-arms 
 and their horses were pierced with the arrows, and 
 fell in the midst of the Genoese ; nor when they had 
 fallen could they recover themselves ; so thick, of a 
 truth, was the press that they overthrew each other. 
 The Welshmen also went on foot with their long 
 knives among the men-at-arms, and slew many, both 
 earls and knights and squires, a thing at which King 
 Edward was afterwards much displeased, for he had 
 sooner that they had been taken prisoners. 
 
 In this battle was slain a very valiant man, the 
 King of Bohemia. When he heard how the battle 
 
 I 
 
THE BATTLE OF CRtCY. 221 
 
 had been ordered, he asked, " Where is my son, the 
 Lord Charles?" His people answered, "We know 
 not, but we believe that he is fighting." (The JLord 
 Charles had come to the battle, but when he saw that 
 it was likely to turn against the French, he departed.) 
 Then said the King, " Gentlemen, you are all my 
 people, my friends, and my brethren-in-arms this 
 day ; therefore, as I am blind, I beg of you that you 
 will lead me so far into the battle, that I may be able 
 to strike one stroke with my sword." The knights 
 answered that they would forthwith lead him as 
 he desired. And that they might not lose him in 
 the crowd, they fastened all the reins of the horses 
 together, and putting the King at their head, that he 
 might have his wish, so advanced towards the enemy. 
 Then the King made good use of his sword, and his 
 companions also fought most gallantly. So far did 
 they go with the press that they were all slain. On 
 the morrow they were found upon the ground, with 
 their horses all tied together. 
 
 None fought on the side of the French more valiantly 
 than the Constable of France and the Earl of Flanders. 
 These two, with their companies, came to the place 
 where the Prince's division stood, and fought there 
 right valiantly. There too the King of France would 
 fain have joined them, but could not, for there was 
 a hedge of archers between him and them. 
 
222 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 Here must be told an adventure of a certain knight 
 that followed Sir John of Hainault. The King of 
 France had given that day a very handsome black 
 war-horse to Sir John, who mounted his own standard- 
 bearer upon the beast. The horse ran away with 
 its rider, and passed through the English army from 
 front to rear without receiving any hurt. Then, as it 
 was about to come back, it stumbled and turned the 
 knight into a ditch, hurting him greatly. In truth, 
 the man would have died but for his page, who had 
 followed, and found him in the ditch without any 
 power to raise himself out of it. This he now did 
 with the page's help, and so returned safe to his own 
 people, though not by the same way as that by which 
 he came. He had fared worse, but that the English 
 did not quit their ranks that day to make prisoners. 
 
 Before the battle had continued any long time, a 
 number of soldiers. Frenchmen, Germans, and men of 
 Savoy, broke through the archers of the Prince's 
 division, and came to blows with the men-at-arms. 
 The Prince had been hard pressed at that time but for 
 the second division, which came quickly to his help. 
 But before their coming, the leaders of the Prince's 
 division, seeing the danger they were in, sent a 
 knight in great haste to the King, who had taken his 
 stand near a windmill on a hill. The knight said, 
 " Sir, the lords that are about your son are vigorously 
 
THE BATTLE OF CRECY. 223 
 
 attacked by the French ; they entreat, therefore, that 
 you would come to their help with your battalion, for 
 if the number of the enemy should increase, they fear 
 that the Prince will have too much to do." The King 
 answered, " Is my son dead, or wounded, or felled 
 to the ground ? " " Nay, sir," said the knight, " he 
 is not so ; but he is so hard pressed by the enemy 
 that he has need of your help." "Then," the King 
 answered, " return to him and to them that sent 
 you hither, and tell them from me that they do not 
 send to me again this day, or look for my coming, so 
 long as my son shall live ; tell them also that they 
 suffer him this day to win his spurs,^ for I am 
 determined that, if it please God, all the glory and 
 honour of this day's battle shall come to him, and 
 to them into whose hands I have committed him." 
 The knight returned and delivered this message to 
 the lords. It greatly encouraged them, and they 
 repented that they had asked for help. 
 
 As the day drew to an end, the King of France 
 had but sixty men with him. Then Sir John of 
 Hainault, who before this had given him a fresh 
 horse, when that on which the King rode had been 
 slain with an arrow, said to him, " Sir, retreat while 
 you have the chance ; do not expose yourself thus 
 to danger; if you have lost the battle to-day, yet 
 ^ The sign of a knight's rank. 
 
224 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 another day you will be conqueror." So saying, he 
 laid his hand on the bridle of the King's horse, and 
 led him away by force ; for this was not the first time 
 that he had begged him to retreat. 
 
 By this time the Frenchmen were altogether in 
 confusion, and their army broken up into small bands, 
 which wandered up and down without any leader, 
 and falling in with the English, were mostly de- 
 stroyed. The English did not stir from their place 
 to pursue or to take prisoners ; but when, about the 
 time of vespers,^ they heard no more shouting or 
 crying, or voices of men calling to their lords, they 
 considered that they had won the victory. As it grew 
 dark, they made great fires and lighted torches. King 
 Edward, who all that day had not put on his helmet, 
 then came down from his post, and, with his whole 
 battahon, advanced to the Prince of Wales. He took 
 him in his arms and kissed him, saying, " Sweet son, 
 God give you grace to go on as you have begun ; you 
 are my son, for you have acquitted yourself well this 
 day ; you are worthy to be a king." Thereat the Prince 
 bowed very low, humbling himself before his father. 
 
 That night the English offered thanksgiving to 
 God, for that He had given them the victory ; this 
 they did without any rioting, for the King had for- 
 bidden all noise or riots. 
 
 ^ Evening service, about six o'clock p.m. 
 
THE BATTLE OF CRECY, 
 
 225 
 
 On the day that followed, that Is, Sunday, there was 
 so great a fog that one could not see a hundred 
 yards. The King sent out a company of five hundred 
 
 EDWARD III. AND THE BLACK PRINCE. 
 
 lances and two thousand archers to see if there were 
 any bodies of French collected. This company fell 
 in with a division that was coming from Abbeville to 
 join King Philip, having been told that he would not 
 
 Q 
 
226 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 fight before Sunday. They thought that the Enghsh- 
 men must be their own countrymen, and hastened to 
 join them. When they found out the truth there was 
 a short fight, but the French soon turned and fled in 
 great disorder. Many were slain ; indeed, had it not 
 been for the fog, not one would have escaped. 
 
 The same thing befell a company that was coming 
 to the help of the French King, under the command 
 of the Archbishop of Rouen. For a time they held 
 their ground, for there were brave knights with them, 
 but in the end were almost all slain. Many other 
 bands that came from the towns round about perished 
 in the same way. 'Tis said that there were slain on 
 this Sunday morning four times as many men as 
 had perished in the battle. 
 
 When the King knew that the French, had no 
 thought of collecting another army, he sent two 
 lords, with three heralds, and two secretaries to count 
 the dead. These were all the day about their work, 
 coming back to the camp as the King was about to 
 sit down to supper. Their report was that they had 
 found eighty banners, and the bodies of eleven 
 princes, twelve hundred knights, and thirty thousand 
 common men. 
 
HOW CALAIS IVAS TAKEN. 227 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 HOW CALAIS WAS TAKEN. 
 
 After King Edward had won the Battle of Crecy, 
 he laid siege to the town of Calais, which he was 
 especially desirous of taking because the inhabitants 
 had been accustomed for many years to do great 
 damage to English ships in the Channel. The King 
 did not attack the town, for it was too strong, but he 
 blockaded it, knowing that sooner or later hunger 
 would compel the inhabitants to surrender, unless 
 indeed the French King should come to their help, 
 and of this, after winning so great a victory at Crecy, 
 he had not much fear. 
 
 First he encamped his army, building for their 
 better lodgings houses of wood. These made, as it 
 were, a town, being laid out in streets. Twice a week 
 a market was held, where provisions and all kinds of 
 merchandise could be bought, for traders came to it 
 from England and Flanders. As for the Governor of 
 Calais, when he saw what the King was doing, he 
 sent a great number of the poorer ' people, with 
 
228 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 women and children, out of the town. King Edward 
 suffered them to pass safely, and gave them besides 
 a dinner and two shillings in money to each 
 of them". 
 
 After a while the King, finding that the people of 
 
 BESIEGERS. 
 
 Calais received supplies by sea, caused a large castle 
 to be made, so strong that it could not be destroyed, 
 and fortified it with all kinds of instruments of war. 
 This he set up between the town and sea, and put in 
 it a garrison of forty men-at-arms and two hundred 
 
HOW CALAIS WAS TAKEN. 229 
 
 archers. By this the harbour of Calais, was guarded 
 so closely that nothing could go in or out without 
 being either taken or sunk. 
 
 Meanwhile the King of France, being very unwilling 
 to lose his town of Calais, had gathered together a 
 very large army — two hundred thousand men, it was 
 said — for its help. But finding that he could not 
 come near to the town, for King Edward had very 
 skilfully guarded all the approaches, he sent certain 
 nobles with this message : " Sir, the King of France 
 desires to say that he has come to give you battle, 
 but cannot find any means of approaching. Will you 
 send some of your counsellors that they may confer 
 with counsellors that he shall himself send, and choose 
 some place where a battle may be fought." The 
 King of England made this answer : " I have been 
 here some twelve months, and have spent here some 
 great sums of money ; by this time, also, I have 
 accomplished so much that I must in a very short 
 time be master of the town of Calais. Therefore I 
 am not inclined to do what the King asks, or to 
 give up that which I have gained. If he and his 
 army desire to pass, they must find some way for 
 themselves." 
 
 After this two Cardinals came from the Pope, 
 endeavouring to make peace. So much they ac- 
 complished that four nobles of the English and as 
 
230 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 many of the< French met together and deHberated. 
 But they could come to no agreement. In the end 
 the King of France departed, and disbanded his 
 army. 
 
 The people of Calais, seeing that all hope of help 
 was lost, and being hard pressed by hunger, desired 
 their Governor to ask for conditions of peace. This 
 the Governor did, but King Edward would grant no 
 conditions whatever. " You must give up your- 
 selves," he said, " to be dealt with as I will. Such as 
 I please I will suffer to ransom thejns'elves, and such 
 as I will I will put to death." But when the English 
 nobles and knights heard this, they said to the King, 
 " You set, Sire, a bad example if you put these people 
 to death ; nor shall we, when you bid us go to any of 
 your castles, obey you so cheerfully, fearing lest the 
 King of France may deal with us in the same way, if 
 we should be taken." The King answered, " I will 
 not hold out against you, but on this I am resolved ; 
 six of the chief citizens of Calais shall come to me 
 with halters round their necks, their heads and 
 feet bare, and the keys of the town and castle 
 in their hands. With these I will deal as I please." 
 
 There was great trouble in the town when this 
 message was given, for how should the six be chosen } 
 At last one Eustace de St. Pierre stood up and said, 
 " It would be a grievous thing that the whole town 
 
HOW CALAIS WAS TAKEN. 231 
 
 should perish. I, therefore, trusting to find grace with 
 God, if I die for my townsmen, offer myself as first of 
 the six." Then five others offered themselves.^ 
 
 These six, therefore, with the Governor, went to the 
 King, the Governor riding on a pony because he was 
 wounded. They fell on their knees before him, and 
 begged for mercy. The King would not listen, but 
 commanded that their heads should be cut off. In 
 vain did his chief counsellors beg him to change 
 his purpose, saying that his reputation would be 
 greatly injured, if he should show himself so un- 
 merciful. At last his wife, Queen Philippa, fell on her 
 knees before him, saying, with tears, " I pray you, 
 Sire, for the love that you bear for me, to have mercy 
 upon these men." To her the King answered, " Ah, 
 lady, I could wish that you had been in any other 
 place than this to-day. Nevertheless I cannot refuse 
 the thing which you ask in this way. I give you, 
 therefore, these men to do with them as you please." 
 Thereupon the Queen commanded that they should 
 be taken to her apartments, and should be well 
 clothed and fed. After this, giving to each six 
 nobles, she sent them away. 
 
 ^ Four of their names are given, the other three are John 
 Daire, James and Peter Wisant. 
 
232 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 
 
 Philip, who was king when the Battle of Crecy 
 was fought, died in 1 350, and John, his eldest son, 
 succeeded him. 
 
 In 1355 King John, hearing that the Black Prince 
 had come out of Bordeaux, and had ravaged the 
 country far and wide, gathered a great army, which 
 he posted in such a way that the English could 
 not return to Bordeaux without fighting. He made 
 three divisions of his army, in each of which were 
 sixteen thousand men. This done, he said to three 
 of his knights, " Ride as near .to the Englishmen as 
 you can; see how many there are; observe whether 
 or no they are in good spirits, and find how we can 
 best attack them." Then he rode himself, being 
 mounted on a white palfrey, to the head of his army, 
 and said thus, " You have often threatened what you 
 would do to the English if you could find them. 
 Now I will lead you to them, so that you can revenge 
 yourselves for all the harm they have done you ; for 
 
THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 233 
 
 be sure that we shall not now part without fighting." 
 Those that heard him answered, *' Willingly will we 
 meet them, God helping us." When the knights 
 came back, they said, " We have seen the English, 
 and find that there are two thousand men-at-arms, 
 four thousand archers, and fifteen hundred footmen. 
 These make one battalion only ; but they are well 
 and skilfully posted." " How shall we attack them V 
 said the King. The knights answered, " On foot, 
 except that there should be three hundred of the 
 boldest and best fighters in your army, well armed 
 and well mounted, to break, if possible, the body 
 of archers, for their archers are posted in front." The 
 King said, " So it shall be." And he rode with 
 his two marshals through the army, and chose out 
 three hundred knights of the greatest repute in the 
 army. Nineteen knights also were chosen who clad 
 themselves in armour like the King's armour. 
 
 When the French were just about to advance, a 
 certain Cardinal came to King John, and said, *' Sir, 
 you have all the flower of France with you, and the 
 English are but a handful of men. It would be 
 greatly to your honour if you could gain them with- 
 out a battle. Let me go to the Prince and show him 
 in what great danger he is." King John said, " Go, 
 but make haste." So the Cardinal rode to the camp 
 of the English, and spoke to the Prince, who said 
 that he was ready to listen to any reasonable terms. 
 
234 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 All that day — it was Sunday — the Cardinal rode 
 backwards and forwards between the two armies. 
 But he could not bring them to an agreement, for the 
 King of France would be content with nothing short 
 of this, that the Prince and a hundred of his knights 
 should surrender themselves ; and the Prince and his 
 counsellors would not consent to any such thing. 
 
 When the Prince saw that there would be no 
 agreement, he said to his men, " We are but few 
 compared to our enemies. But be not therefore cast 
 down, for victory does not always go with numbers, 
 but as it may please God. If we win this day, great 
 will be our glory ; if we die, I have a father and 
 brothers, and you have kinsmen, who will avenge our 
 deaths. And now I entreat you to quit yourselves 
 like men ; as for me, if it please God and St. George, 
 you will see me behave myself as a brave knight." 
 
 After this the battle began. The battalion of three 
 hundred French knights that should have broken 
 through the English archers, first advanced. But the 
 archers, being on the sides of the lane by which they 
 came, began shooting upon them so well and fast 
 that their horses, smarting from the wounds made by 
 the arrows, could not go forward, but turned about. 
 Their riders could not manage them, but were thrown, 
 and such as were thrown could not rise again, such 
 was the press. Some indeed of the knights' esquires 
 broke through the hedges, but, even so, they could 
 
THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 
 
 235 
 
 not reach, as they desired, the battalion of the Prince. 
 This battalion, then, being beaten, fell back upon 
 those that were behind, and these again on the 
 second division, and when those in the second division 
 heard what had happened, many of them mounted 
 
 KNIGHTS IN BATTLE. 
 
 their horses and rode off. Now the Prince had posted 
 three hundred men-at-arms -and as many archers on a 
 hill that was close by. This he did that they might 
 be ready to fall on the second division of the French, 
 if they should see occasion. And this they now did, 
 seeing the division falling into confusion. And here 
 
236 ■ STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 again the English archers did infinite service, for they 
 shot so thickly and well that the French did not know 
 whither to turn themselves to escape the arrows. 
 
 When the English men-at-arms saw that the first 
 division of the French was beaten, and the second 
 fallen into disorder, they mounted their horses, which 
 they had ready at hand. Then Sir John Chandos, 
 who had been by the Prince all the day, said to him, 
 " Sir, sir, now push forward, for the day is ours ; God 
 will certainly put it in our hands. Let us make for 
 the King of France, for the chief of the battle will be 
 where he is ; I know well that his valour will not 
 suffer him to fly. He will remain in our hands, if it 
 so please God ; but we must do our best. You have 
 said, sir, that you would show yourself a good knight 
 to-day." The Prince said, "Go forward. Sir John; 
 you will not see me turn my back this day, but I will 
 be always among the foremost." Then he turned to 
 his banner-bearer, and said, " Banner, advance ! " And 
 this the knight did. Very fierce and crowded was 
 the fight in that part of the field. Many a knight 
 was beaten down from his horse, and if any one fell, 
 he could not rise again, unless he was helped well 
 and quickly. And all th*e while the English archers 
 shot so well that none dared to come within reach of 
 their arrows. 
 
 And now the second division was in full flight, and 
 there remained the third only, which the King of 
 
THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 2^1 
 
 France himself commanded. A good knight did the 
 King prove himself; had but a fourth part of his 
 followers behaved themselves as well, he had won the 
 day. Many a valiant stroke did he deal with his 
 battle-axe, for it was with this that he fought and 
 defended himself. But there were only a few that 
 stood by him. The greater part fled as fast as they 
 could, hoping to find shelter within the walls of 
 Poitiers. But the men of Poitiers shut the gates of 
 the town, so that there was a great slaughter on the 
 causeway before the gates. In such terror were the 
 French, that many gave themselves up for prisoners 
 as soon as they saw an Englishman. There were 
 many English archers that day that had four prisoners, 
 or even five or six. As for the King, there was much 
 pressing to take him ; all desired to have such a 
 prisoner, and cried out to him, " Sire, surrender your- 
 self, or you are a dead man." But the one that had 
 the good fortune to take him was a young squire, 
 Denis de Morbeque by name. He was a Frenchman 
 by birth, but served the King of England, having 
 been banished for killing a man in a quarrel. Chanc- 
 ing now to be very near to the King, he pushed 
 through the crowd, for he was very strong, and said 
 to the King in good French, " Sire, Sire, give yourself 
 up." The King answered, '' To whom shall I give 
 myself.'* Where is my cousin the Prince of Wales.? 
 If I could see him, I would speak to him." Sir 
 
238 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Denis said, " He is not here ; but give yourself up 
 to me, and I will lead you to him." Thereupon the 
 King gave him his right glove, and said, " I give 
 myself up to you." Still there was much pushing, 
 many crying out, " It was I that took him." 
 
 Meanwhile the Black Prince, by the counsel of Sir 
 John Chandos, had pitched his banner, that his men 
 might join together again, for they were much 
 scattered. The banner was placed on a high part, 
 and a tent of crimson silk was pitched for the Prince. 
 He took off his helmet and sat down, and his knights 
 brought him some wine. Every moment the crowd 
 in the place grew greater, as the knights came back 
 and brought their prisoners with them. 
 
 When his marshals came back, the Prince said to 
 them, "Where is the King of France.^" They 
 answered, " We do not know for a certainty ; but he 
 must be killed or taken prisoner, for he has now left 
 his division." Then the Prince bade two of his 
 nobles take their horses and ride over the field that 
 they might get certain news of him. Accordingly 
 the two rode to a small hill, from which they might 
 get a view of the plain. Thence they saw a crowd of 
 men-at-arms on foot, which were coming towards 
 them very slowly. The King of France was in the 
 midst of them, and in great danger, for the English 
 and the Gascons had taken him from Denis, and 
 were disputing who should have him. One would 
 
THE GREAT BATTLE OF POITIERS. 239 
 
 bawl out, "'Tis I that have got him," and others 
 would reply, " No, no ; we have him." The King 
 said, " Gentlemen, take me quietly to the Prince, and 
 do not make a riot about me, for I can make all of 
 you sufficiently rich." The barons set spurs to their 
 horses, and riding up to the crowd, asked what was 
 the matter. " It is the King of France," was the 
 answer ; and as many as ten knights and squires 
 declared that he was their prisoner. Thereupon the 
 barons commanded all to draw aside, forbidding any 
 to approach, under pain of instant death, unless they 
 should be called. This done, they dismounted, and 
 making a profound reverence to the King, led him to 
 the Prince. 
 
 When evening was come, the Prince gave a supper 
 in his pavilion to the King of France, and to the 
 princes and barons who had been taken along with 
 him. The Prince himself served the King's table, 
 and would not sit down at it, though they urged him 
 to do so. *' I am unworthy of such an honour," he 
 said, "nor does it become me to sit at the table of so 
 great a king, or so valiant a man as he has shown 
 himself to be this day." Further he said, " Do not 
 make a poor meal because God has not granted you 
 your wish to-day ; my father will show you, I know, 
 all honour, and will arrange your ransom reasonably. 
 I think, too, that you may be tliankful that this day 
 has not ended as you wished ; for you have had 
 
240 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 occasion to surpass all the bravest knights on your 
 side. And this I say, not to flatter you, but because 
 it is the judgment of all on our side that have seen 
 you." At the end of this speech there were murmurs 
 of praise from every one, and the French said that 
 the Prince had spoken nobly and truly, and that if 
 God should grant him life, he would be one of the 
 most gallant princes in Christendom. 
 
 King John was taken to England, the Prince 
 giving one hundred thousand florins to be distributed 
 among the barons of Gascony, who believed them- 
 selves to have a share in the prisoner. He rode 
 through London in great state, and was lodged in 
 the Savoy Palace, and afterwards in various places, 
 his abode being frequently changed for fear of an 
 escape. In 1360 he returned to France, it having 
 been agreed that a ransom of 3,000,000 crowns should 
 be paid for him ; the value of this in English money 
 being' ;^i, 125,000. Other conditions were made. 
 The King found that he could not fulfil these, and he 
 returned to England, where he died a few months 
 afterwards. The Black Prince, who was twenty-six 
 years old when he won Poitiers, died in 1376, a short 
 time before his father. 
 
BOOK 11. 
 FROM RICHARD II. TO CHARLES I. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE STORY OF WAT TYLER. 
 
 In the year 1381 there broke out the most terrible 
 rebelHon of the people against their rulers that has 
 ever happened in England. There were many things 
 to make them discontented. A great number of men 
 had perished, and great sums of money had been 
 spent, in the French wars, and all to very little or no 
 good. Then the Parliament had passed laws by 
 which they tried to keep the labourers, both in the 
 country and the towns, from earning their proper 
 wages. The fact was that a dreadful plague, which 
 men called the Black Deaths had passed through the 
 country,^ and swept off as much as half the popula- 
 tion. Naturally, when there were fewer men to do 
 the work, these fewer would be better paid for doing 
 it. But this did not please their employers ; and the 
 employers persuaded the Parliament, where the poor 
 had no one to speak for them, to pass a law by which 
 wages should be kept low. By these it was for- 
 ^ It came in 1348, and again in 1361 and 1369. 
 
244 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 bidden for any labourer to ask and for any master 
 to pay higher wages than had been paid before the 
 year of the Black Death.^ Often, too, the landlords 
 tried to make the labourers — "villeins" as they were 
 called — give so many days' work, instead of the pay- 
 ment in money which they had for many years been 
 accustomed to make. Then a very hateful tax, 
 called the poll-tax, was laid upon the people. The 
 word " poll " means head, and every one above a 
 certain age was bound to pay it. True, it was pro- 
 vided that the rich should pay more than the poor ; 
 the Duke of Lancaster, who was the King's uncle, and 
 the archbishops had to pay lO marks {£6 i^s. ^d.) 
 each, while a labouring man had to pay a groat (4^.). 
 But, as a matter of fact, rich and powerful people 
 often paid less than their due, while the poor could 
 not escape. 
 
 It was in the month of June, 1381, that the trouble 
 began, and began in several places almost at the 
 same time. An officer was sent down from London 
 into Essex to inquire why the tax had not been 
 properly collected in that county. At the first place 
 he came to the people refused to answer his ques- 
 
 ^ These " Statutes of Labourers," as they were called, were 
 first passed in 1349, and were renewed several times after- 
 wards. They did not do what they were wanted to do, but they 
 caused angry feelings between masters and men. 
 
WAT TYLER. 245 
 
 tions. Soon after one of the principal judges came to 
 try them for their disobedience : they attacked him 
 and his people; the judge escaped, but some of his 
 clerks were killed. In a few days all Essex had 
 rebelled, their leader being a priest who called himself 
 Jack Straw. 
 
 At the very same time that these things happened 
 there was a rising in Kent. It began at Dartford, 
 where a tax-collector was killed by a tile-maker, 
 because he had behaved badly to one of the man's 
 children. It spread to Gravesend, where one of the 
 townspeople had been claimed as a bondsman by a 
 neighbouring squire, and thrown into prison till he 
 should pay ;^300 for his freedom. At Maidstone the 
 rebels found a leader, Walter the tile-maker, com- 
 monly called Wat Tyler. There were as many as seven 
 men who followed this occupation of making tiles that 
 were among the leaders of the rebellion. Wat Tyler 
 was joined by a well-known priest, John Ball by 
 name, who had already been punished more than 
 once for speaking against the Pope, the bishops, and 
 the clergy. At Canterbury the mayor and aldermen 
 were compelled to swear that they would support the 
 cause of the people. The whole multitude — accord- 
 ing to some accounts there were as many as 100,000 
 of them — marched towards London. When they 
 came to Blackheath, John Ball is said to have 
 
246 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 preached a sermon to them, taking for his text the 
 two verses — 
 
 " When Adam delved and Eve span, 
 Who was then the gentleman ? " 
 
 Meanwhile the country-folk from Essex had posted 
 themselves at Mile End, which is on the east side of 
 London, and those from Hertfordshire at Highbury, 
 which is on the north. But it was not these, as we 
 shall see, but the men from Kent that did the most 
 mischief. 
 
 What they first did was to send a message to the 
 King by a certain knight whom they had compelled 
 to come with them. The knight was to tell the 
 King that England had been very badly governed for 
 many years by the nobles and bishops, and that the 
 people desired, for his sake and their own, to have 
 these things set right. They wished, therefore, that 
 he should see them and hear what they had got to 
 say. The knight took this message, not very will- 
 ingly, and the King sent him back with this answer, 
 that if they would send their leaders the next day 
 down to the river, he would talk with them. 
 
 The next day the King was rowed in his barge 
 down the river as far as Rotherhithe (about three 
 miles from Blackheath). The rebels had not been 
 satisfied to send their leaders only ; as many as 
 
WAT TYLER. 
 
 247 
 
 10,000 men had crowded down to the river-side, and 
 these raised such an uproar when they saw the King's 
 barge, that the nobles who were with him were 
 frightened, and advised him not to land. The barge 
 was rowed up and down, and the King tried to speak 
 
 KING RICHARD THE SECOND. 
 
 from it ; the people, however, would not listen unless 
 he landed, and this the nobles would not allow him 
 to do. 
 
 When the multitude at Blackheath heard that 
 nothing had been done, they at once marched to 
 London, doing much damage as they went. They 
 
248 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 were especially enraged against lawyers, and foreigners, 
 such as were the Flemings, merchants and workmen 
 from Flanders, many of whom had lately come over 
 to this country. They thought that the lawyers 
 made a profit out of their troubles, and that the 
 Flemings took trade and work that properly belonged 
 to Englishmen. The gates of London were not shut 
 against them ; in fact, there were thousands of people 
 in the city who wished them well, and the authorities 
 did not dare to refuse them admittance. 
 
 Perhaps the most unpopular man in the kingdom 
 at this time was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, 
 uncle to the King. A large body of the rebels, as 
 soon as they got into the city, plundered and set on 
 fire the Duke's palace, which was near the river, in a 
 place then and still called the Savoy. The house 
 and church belonging to the Knights Hospitallers of 
 Rhodes were also burnt ; the people probably dis- 
 liked them as being foreigners. Some houses be- 
 longing to Lombard money-lenders were broken 
 open. We are also told that Wat Tyler murdered 
 a citizen whose servant he had once been in France, 
 and by whom he had been beaten. The story does 
 not look like truth, for how should a tile-maker have 
 been a citizen's servant in France } 
 
 That night the main body of the rebels remained 
 in St. Catherine's Square opposite the Tower. It 
 
 I 
 
WAT TYLER. 249 
 
 was In the Tower that the King, his mother, the 
 Black Prince's widow, and many of his chief coun- 
 sellors were living. 
 
 The next day the King went to talk with the people 
 who had come up from the eastern counties, and who 
 had assembled, as has been said, at a place called 
 Mile End. He made them promises to set right the 
 things of which they complained, and so satisfied 
 them. He even put these promises into writing. As 
 many as thirty scribes were busy all night, it is said, 
 with this work. In the morning the deeds were handed 
 over to the people, and they went away to their homes, 
 thinking that they had obtained all that they wanted. 
 
 Meanwhile, much mischief had been done at the- 
 Tower. We do not know whether the rebels were 
 permitted to enter this place, or broke into it by force. 
 We can see that the King and his advisers did every- 
 thing they could to please Wat Tyler and his followers, 
 of whom they were greatly afraid, and they may have 
 thought it a good plan to seem to trust them. Ac- 
 cording to one account, the rebel leaders made their 
 way through the gate as the King's party was coming 
 out to go to Mile End. However this may be, they 
 got in somehow, and murdered four persons, the chief 
 of whom was Simon of Sudbury, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury. After this they left St. Catherine's Square, 
 and encamped in another large open space, where 
 
250 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 markets were held, known as Smithfield, and still 
 called by that name. 
 
 The next morning the King rode into London from 
 Westminster, for he had been at service in the Abbey. 
 It is not clear whether he intended to speak to the 
 rebels, or, seeing a great gathering of them as he rode 
 by Smithfield, suddenly made up his mind to do so 
 He had done so well with the people at Mile End 
 that he may well have hoped to pacify Wat Tyler 
 and his followers. The story of what followed is thus 
 told by a chronicler who lived at the time.^ 
 
 " When Wat Tyler saw the King, he said to his 
 men, ' Here is the King ; I will go and speak with 
 him ; do not move from your place till I give you this 
 sign,' and he moved his hand to show what he meant. 
 ' Then step forward and kill every one that is with 
 the King, but save him alive, for he is young, and we 
 can do what we please with him. We will carry him 
 about England, and be masters of the whole land.' 
 Then he spurred his horse to where the King was 
 coming so near that his horse's head touched the 
 
 ^ Froissart, a French priest, was born in 1337. He lived in 
 England for some time about the year 1361, and came again to 
 this country in 1395, 2. e. fourteen years after the time of which I 
 am now writing. He stayed here for three months, and during 
 that time saw much of the King, and may very well have heard 
 from him the story of these events. 
 
WAT TYLER. 251 
 
 crupper of the King's saddle. 'King,' said he, *dost 
 thou see all these people ? ' 
 
 "'Yes/ answered the King, 'I see them. Why 
 dost thou ask .? ' 
 
 "'Because they are all under my command, and 
 have sworn to do whatsoever I shall bid them.' 
 
 " ' Well,' said the King, ' I do not blame them.' 
 
 " * But dost thou think that all these men, and as 
 many more as there are in this city under my com- 
 mand, ought to go away without having your promise 
 in writing to take with them } Not so ; but we will 
 take the writings with us.' 
 
 "' Nay, it has not been so ordered. Tell your com- 
 panions to go to their homes, and the writings shall 
 be given out village by village and town by town.' 
 
 " When the King had thus spoken, Wat Tyler saw 
 one of the King's squires against whom he had a 
 grudge. The man was carrying the King's sword. 
 He said to him, ' Give me thy dagger.' 
 
 " ' Why should I give it thee } ' said the squire. But 
 the King said, ' Give it to him,' and this the squire 
 did, much against his will. 
 
 " Wat Tyler said, ' Give me thy sword.' 
 
 " * I will not,' the squire answered, ' for it is the King's 
 sword, and thou art not worthy to carry it. And had 
 thou and I been alone thou hadst not dared say such 
 words, not for a heap of gold as high as this church.' 
 
252 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 For they were near to the church of St. Bartholomew, 
 which still stands in Smithfield. When the Mayor of 
 London, William Walworth by name, heard this, he 
 rode forward, having twelve others with him, all 
 wearing armour under their clothes. * How darest 
 thou,' he said, 'so behave and say such words in the 
 presence of the King ? ' By this time, too, the King 
 had grown angry, and said to the Mayor, ' Lay hands 
 on him.' 
 
 "Meanwhile Wat Tyler said to the Mayor, 'What 
 concern hast thou with my words } What dost thou 
 mean } ' 
 
 " ' I mean this,' said the Mayor, ' that it does not 
 become such a rascal as thou art to say such words in 
 the presence of my lord the King. Verily, if I die 
 for it, thou shalt suffer for thy insolence.' With this 
 he drew a sword that he had, and struck Tyler such a 
 blow as brought him down from his horse. When he 
 was on the ground the King's people closed round 
 him, so that his followers could not see what was 
 done, and one of the squires killed him. 
 
 "When the rebels saw that their leader was dead, 
 they cried out, * They have killed our captain ; let us 
 slay them all.' And they came on, each man having 
 his bow bent before him. 
 
 " The King, seeing this, bade his attendants stay 
 where they were, and rode forward alone. ' Gentle- 
 
WAT TYLER. 253 
 
 men/ he said, 'what are you about ? You shall have 
 none other captain but me. I am your king.' When 
 they heard these words, such as were inclined to peace 
 slunk away, but the others kept their ground, and 
 seemed ready for mischief. 
 
 " By this time the alarm had spread in the city that 
 the King was in danger, and a great number of the 
 citizens came out to his help. Some of the King's 
 counsellors were for falling upon the rebels, but the 
 King would not suffer it. * Nay,' said he, ' but go and 
 ask them for their banners.' For each company had 
 one of the King's banners. These they gave up. 
 Then it was commanded that any man that had a 
 written promise from the King should give it up 
 under pain of death. This they did also, and after 
 this they were suffered to depart." 
 
 The other leaders were seized and executed, and 
 many of those who had joined in the rebellion were 
 put to death. None of the King's promises were 
 kept, and the wrongs complained of were not set 
 right. Still in the end these poor men did not suffer 
 in vain. Wat Tyler's rebellion was a step towards 
 English freedom. 
 
254 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. 
 
 It would have been well for King Richard if he 
 had always behaved as well as he did on the day 
 when he met Wat Tyler and his men in Smithfield. 
 He was then but sixteen years of age, but unhappily 
 he did not grow wiser as he grew older. At one time 
 he allowed himself to be led by bad advisers ; at 
 another he seemed determined to have his own way, 
 and was very tyrannical and unjust. One of his 
 unrighteous acts was a chief cause of his fate. He 
 had banished his cousin, Henry, Duke of Hereford, but 
 had promised him that when Henry's father, John of 
 Gaunt, should die, he should have his estates. This 
 promise he did not keep. John of Gaunt died in 
 1399, and the King at once seized all his property. 
 Henry came to England to claim his inheritance ; 
 many of the great nobles joined him ; and Richard 
 when he came back from Ireland, whither he had gone 
 
HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. 255 
 
 a few months before, found that he was left alone. 
 He surrendered himself to Henry, who declared that 
 he had come to help him to govern the kingdom 
 better. This was a pretence. Richard was thrown 
 into the Tower, and consented to give up the Crown. 
 Henry read the consent to Parliament and claimed 
 the Crown for himself, and Parliament gave its 
 assent. 
 
 The new King had a very unquiet reign. The first 
 rebellion against him broke out in Wales. Rather 
 more than a hundred years before this time an English 
 King, Edward I.,^ had conquered this country. The 
 people had never been quite content, and now they saw 
 a chance of getting their freedom again. Their leader 
 was a certain Owen Glendower, who claimed to be 
 descended from the last Prince of Wales, Llewellyn 
 by name, the one who had tried in vain to resist the 
 English conquest. Glendower had been one of King 
 Richard's squires, and had been ill-treated when his 
 master lost his throne. A neighbour, Lord Grey of 
 Ruthyn, had been allowed to take possession of 
 some of his estates. When he tried to get justice 
 done to him, it was refused. Then he rebelled, and 
 soon gathered a number of followers. Wales is a 
 land of mountains, which Glendower and his men 
 ^ See p. 202. 
 
256 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 knew very well, and in which it was not easy for 
 the English to find them. To the very end of 
 his reign King Henry found this Welsh chief a 
 
 THE BATTLE OF SHREWSBURY. 
 
 very troublesome enemy. Twice did he invade 
 Wales with a large army, and twice he was obliged 
 to retreat. He made a third attempt, he and his son 
 Prince Henry (afterwards Henry V.) and the Earl 
 
HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER, 257 
 
 of Arundel attacking the country at different points. 
 This time the Welsh rivers were so flooded by heavy 
 rains that the English armies could not advance. 
 Owen had the reputation of being a magician, and 
 his followers believed that he had caused the floods 
 by his arts. This made him more powerful than ever. 
 In one of his battles he had taken prisoner one 
 Edmund Mortimer, uncle to the young Earl of March, 
 who, as will be seen from the genealogy, had a better 
 claim to the Crown than Henry. As this is an 
 important thing toward understanding the history 
 of England for the next sixty years, you should 
 look carefully at this table of the descendants of King 
 Edward III. 
 
 EDWARD III. 
 
 I 
 
 I I I 
 
 Lionel of Clarence (3rd son) John of Gaunt (4th son) Edmund of Langley (5th son) 
 
 Philippa — Edmund Mortimer Henry IV. Richard — Anne Mortimer 
 
 I _ I Earl of Cam- 
 Roger Mortimer Henry V. bridge 
 
 1 I Henry VI. 
 
 Edmund Anne Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York 
 
 Mortimer, Mortimer | 
 
 Earl of March Edward IV. 
 
 great-grand- 
 daughter of 
 Lionel of 
 Clarence. 
 
 King Henry did not look with any favour on his 
 family, and he would not allow Edmund Mortimer's 
 relatives to ransom him. But by doing this he made 
 enemies of another very powerful family, the Percies, 
 Earls of Northumberland, for Henry Percy, eldest son 
 of the Earl, known as Hotspur on account of his 
 
258 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 impetuous courage, had married Edmund Mortimer's 
 sister. The Percies had for some time disHked the King. 
 They had had much to do with putting him on the 
 throne, and though he had rewarded them with grants 
 of land and various honours, they thought that he had 
 not done enough. So a great conspiracy was formed 
 against King Henry. Owen Glendower released his 
 prisoner Mortimer, and gave him his sister to wife, 
 while Henry Percy made friends with a powerful 
 Scotch noble, the Earl of Douglas. This Earl of 
 Douglas had been taken prisoner by Henry Percy 
 the year before at the Battle of Homildon Hill. He 
 was now released without ransom, and joined the 
 Percies with a large number of Scottish soldiers. 
 Owen Glendower, on his part, promised to bring 
 12,000 Welshmen to help his friends. It was agreed 
 that the Northumbrians and the Scotchmen should 
 march southwards, and join Owen and his Welsh. 
 
 If this plan had been carried out it is quite possible 
 that the rebellion might have succeeded. And indeed 
 Henry was in great danger. He did not know what 
 the Percies were thinking of doing. He heard indeed 
 that Glendower and his Welshmen were about to 
 invade Gloucestershire, and he sent letters to the lieu- 
 tenant of that and of other counties on the Welsh 
 border, telling them to muster their men and send them 
 to join the Prince of Wales. He also knew that the 
 
HOTSPUR AND GLENDOWER. 259 
 
 Scotch were intending to attack England, and he 
 sent instructions to the Percies themselves to resist 
 them. This he did on June 16. A few days later 
 he marched northwards himself, still, knowing nothing 
 about the Percies having rebelled. About July 12 he 
 learnt the truth, and hurried back. And he was just 
 in time. On July 18 he came up with Hotspur and 
 his Scottish allies, before Glendower had been able to 
 join them. They were three miles from Shrewsbury, 
 and so not far from the Welsh border. A fierce battle 
 was fought, in which the rebels were defeated ; Hot- 
 spur was killed, not, as Shakespeare describes, by the 
 young Prince Henry, who was but a lad of fifteen, 
 but by a chance arrow, as he was leading his men. 
 The Earl of Douglas was taken prisoner. Prince 
 Henry was in the battle, and was wounded by an 
 arrow in the forehead. 
 
 We do not know what became of Glendower. He 
 v/as certainly never conquered. In 1404, two years, 
 that is, after the battle of Shrewsbury, we hear of his 
 sending the bishop of St. Asaph to make a treaty for 
 him with the King of France, and nine years later 
 still, Henry V., who was then about to start on the 
 expedition which I shall describe in my next chapter, 
 offered to pardon him if he would submit. He never 
 did submit ; very likely, as we hear no more about 
 him. he died about this time. 
 
26o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AGINCOURT. 
 
 I HAVE already told ^ how Edward III. claimed to 
 be King of France, and how he won great victories by 
 sea and land in seeking to make good this claim. 
 But the whole country he could never conquer. 
 Afterwards all that the English had won was lost 
 again. For King Edward grew weak and foolish in 
 his old age, and the Black Prince died before his 
 father after long sickness. When Richard, the Black 
 Prince's son, became king, he was but a boy, and the 
 great English nobles were too much taken up with 
 quarrels to care much for other things ; nor did 
 Richard do any better when he took the power into 
 his own hands. The end of it was, that when Richard 
 died only the town of Calais was left to the English. 
 King Henry IV. was too busy keeping himself upon 
 his throne, and putting down the nobles who rebelled 
 against him, to have any time for conquest abroad. 
 But Henry V. felt himself able to do what his father 
 ^ Book I. chs. 28 — 31. 
 
AGINCOURT. 261 
 
 could not. First he claimed that certain provinces of 
 France should be given up to him, and that he should 
 have for his wife the daughter of the French king, the 
 Princess Katharine, with a dowry of two million 
 crowns. Something the French were willing to give, 
 two or three provinces, but not all that Henry asked, 
 and the Princess, but not with so much money. For 
 a while ambassadors went to and fro, but they could 
 come to no agreement,^ and on August 11, 141 5, 
 King Henry set sail from Southampton. He had 
 about 30,000 men, who were carried in more than 
 1500 vessels. 
 
 He landed at Harfleur, and spent more than a 
 month in besieging that place. When at last he took 
 the town, he found that his army was much weakened. 
 Some soldiers had been killed ; many had died of 
 disease, for the season was very wet and unhealthy. 
 The safest and easiest thing for him to do was to sail 
 back at once. This he did not like to do. It 
 would disgrace him, he thought, to have taken so 
 much trouble for the sake of a single town, even 
 though Harfleur was an important place, from which 
 French ships used to come out to plunder the English 
 coast. So he made up his mind to march across 
 
 1 The King of France was Charles VI., grandson of that King 
 John who was taken prisoner at Poitiers. He was frequently 
 mad during the latter years of his life. 
 
262 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Normandy to Calais. This was a sort of defiance to 
 the French King. Having done this he could go 
 
 THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT. 
 
 back to England with more credit. So he sent back 
 the sick and wounded to England, and leaving a 
 garrison in Harfleur, began his march. He had 
 
AGINCOURT. 263 
 
 perhaps 20CO men-at-arms and 10,000 archers with 
 him, and he had 150 miles to go through an enemy's 
 country. About half the march he made without 
 any one trying to hinder him ; it was when he had 
 to cross the river Somme that his real difficulties 
 began. Sixty-nine years before his great-grandfather 
 Edward III. had been in just the same position. He 
 had to cross the same river, with the fords and 
 bridges guarded, and an enemy's army much stronger 
 than his own on the other s'de. King Edward had 
 found a ford by bribing a Norman peasant ;i King 
 Henry was able to cross the river at a place which 
 the people of St. Quentin, whose business it was to 
 keep it, had left unguarded. Half his army had 
 crossed before the enemy came in sight ; even then 
 they were not strong enough to attack him, and he 
 made the passage without any loss. But he had had 
 to go very much out of his way, and in fact was 
 not much nearer Calais than when he started.^ 
 But though the French had a much stronger army, 
 they fell back before him, and it was not till he was 
 
 1 See vol. i. p. 216. 
 
 ^ If he could have crossed by the ford which King Edward 
 found unguarded he would have saved several days' march. 
 Measure the distance on the map from Harfleur to Calais, 
 first by way of St. Quentin, and then by way of Abbeville 
 (where King Edward crossed), and you will find the first nearly 
 double the second. 
 
264 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR V. 
 
 within forty miles of his journey's end that they 
 made a stand. On October 24 he reached a httle 
 village called Blangy. Crossing a stream at a place 
 where a mill now stands, he marched up to a high 
 table-land which lies above the valley, and there 
 found the French army, so placed as to block the road 
 to Calais. Their leaders had not taken the trouble to 
 make their position as strong as they might have 
 made it. There were two villages a little in front of 
 their two wings ^ ; they let the English occupy them. 
 There were woods near, in which they ought to have 
 posted troops. They did not do so. All they did 
 was to put their huge mass of soldiers — a hundred 
 thousand men at the least — between the English and 
 the place which King Henry was trying to reach. 
 They seemed to think that it would be quite sufficient 
 to stand still and let these few thousands of men 
 who were scarcely a tenth part of their number, dash 
 themselves against them. There were three lines of the 
 French, one behind another. In the first were 20,000 
 men, armed with coats of mail and helmets. Bodies 
 of cavalry stood on either side ready to charge when 
 they were wanted. The second line was made up in 
 much the same way ; the third consisted chiefly of 
 cavalry. 
 
 The English were drawn up in one line, with the 
 ^ The " wings " of an army are its right and left sides. 
 
AGINCOURT. 265 
 
 archers on either side, the men-at-arms In the middle, 
 but with some archers among them. Each of these 
 had a stake shod with iron which he had carried with 
 him on his march. These were to be fixed into the 
 ground to make a hedge when the cavalry should 
 charge. There were archers also in the two villages 
 which the French had not taken the trouble to 
 occupy. The baggage was left some way behind 
 with a few men to guard it. 
 
 King Henry rode along the line on a small grey 
 horse, putting his men in order, and bidding them 
 be of good courage. He wore over his armour a coat 
 embroidered with the leopards of England and the 
 lilies of France, worked in their proper colours. 
 Round his helmet was a crown of gold. Every one 
 was to know that he was the King, and the King, as 
 he said, both of France and England. When he had 
 passed from one end of the line to the other, he sent 
 his horse away, and took his stand on foot in front 
 of his army, with the royal standard waving over his 
 head. His post was in the middle of the line. On 
 the right the Duke of York^ was in command; on 
 the left Lord Camoys. 
 
 Which side was to move first .? Had the French 
 kept to their plan of standing still and letting the 
 
 1 Son of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III., and 
 so first cousin one degree removed of the King. 
 
266 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 little English army dash itself In vain upon them, 
 the battle might have had another end. Happily for 
 us they did not, and it seems to have been King 
 Henry's boldness and sk'll that made them move. 
 By his command, Sir Thomas Erpyngham, one cf 
 the oldest knights in the army, gave the signal to 
 charge by throwing his truncheon into the air. All 
 the line advanced ; and then the French, in their 
 turn, began to move. It roused them to anger to 
 see this little company of men, ragged and worn 
 with marching, daring to attack them. Their huge, 
 unwieldy host began to advance. Then the English 
 halted. The archers set up their hedge of stakes, 
 and so sheltered sent a shower of arrows into the 
 midst of the enemy. For a time the English line 
 was borne backward. But the archers went on 
 shooting, and the men-at-arms fought with desperate 
 valour. When the French horsemen tried to charge, 
 they found themselves stopped by the hedge of stakes. 
 Besides, it was only a few that could charge. The 
 army was so crowded together that it could hardly 
 move ; only those in front could raise their hands to 
 strike. And then the heavy ground was against them. 
 It was now late in the autumn, and there had been 
 much rain during the last two months. The English 
 had suffered from it while they lay outside the walls 
 of Harfleur, or marched backwards and forwards 
 
AGINCOURT. 267 
 
 along the banks of the Somme ; now it served them. 
 The horsemen and heavy-armed foot-soldiers could 
 not move for the mire. And all the while the terrible 
 showier of arrows went on falling among them and 
 striking them down. The French have always been 
 better at charging than at standing still, and they 
 began to lose courage, to waver, to fall back. 
 
 Yet there was at least one brave effort to change 
 the fortune of the day. The Duke d'Alengon gathered 
 round him a number of knights and men-at-arms, 
 and made for the place where King Henry was 
 fighting in front of his army. If he could be killed, 
 thought the Duke, the battle might yet be won. 
 The Duke struck the King's brother, Humphrey, 
 Duke of Gloucester, to the ground with a dangerous 
 wound, and dealt the King himself a great blow 
 which dinted his helm.et, and brought him to his 
 knees. But he could do no more. He was over- 
 powered and slain. In vain did the King try to save 
 his life. 
 
 The first line of the French was now broken ; the 
 second seems to have fled almost without resistance. 
 Some brave nobles and knights did, indeed, charge 
 the English, but they could do nothing ; every man 
 among them was either killed or made prisoner. 
 
 And now there happened a dreadful thing, for 
 which the King has often been blamed. He was 
 
268 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR V. 
 
 told that the French had attacked the rear of his 
 army, that they were setting the prisoners free (for 
 many prisoners had been taken by this time), had 
 plundered the baggage, and were now about to 
 charge him from behind. He gave orders to kill all 
 the prisoners that had not been sent to the rear. 
 When the i>obles and knights refused to obey, for 
 they hoped to get ransom for those whom they had 
 taken, and so pay themselves back for the money 
 which they had spent, the King sent a squire with 
 a number of archers to execute his orders. Many 
 had been killed, when it was found out that the news 
 was a false alarm. A knight who lived in the 
 neighbourhood had indeed gone with a number of 
 men to the rear of the English army and plundered 
 the baggage.^ But there was no such danger as 
 Henry had feared. And yet there might have been. 
 Even then the French were in numbers far stronger 
 than he was. If they had taken courage, and had 
 found a brave and skilful man to lead them, they 
 might still have destroyed him and his little army. 
 And the prisoners, if set free, would of course have 
 been very dangerous. 
 
 The battle over, the King rode over the field of 
 battle. " To whom does the victory belong ? " he 
 
 1 He got hold of a number of the King's jewels, and even of 
 his crown. 
 
AGINCOURT, 269 
 
 said to the chief of the French heralds. "To you, 
 sire," the man answered. Turning round, Henry saw 
 the turrets of a castle, and asked its name. " The 
 Castle of Agincourt," was the answer. " Since it is 
 fitting," he said, " that all battles should bear the 
 name of the fortress near to which they have been 
 fought, let this field bear for ever the name of 
 Agincourt." 
 
 The French lost 10,000 men in this great battle, 
 and of these more than 8000 were nobles and knights. 
 Some of the very first men in France were among 
 them. On the English side the Duke of York v/as 
 killed, and Michael de la Pole, the young Earl of 
 Suffolk. How many more fell we do not know. A 
 French chronicler says 1500, an English 3300. The 
 English took 1500 prisoners, two royal princes among 
 them. 
 
 The King went back to England. Afterwards he 
 returned to France with another and yet stronger 
 army. After much fighting peace was made. It 
 was agreed that Henry should marry the Princess 
 Katharine, and should be King of France after the 
 death of Charles 
 
270 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 
 
 On October 22, 1422, Charles VI. of France died. 
 At his funeral the French herald cried aloud, first, 
 "May God have mercy on the soul of the late 
 most powerful and excellent Charles VI. King of 
 France!" and then, "May God grant long life to 
 Henry, by the Grace of God King of France and 
 England!" for indeed the little child, Henry of 
 Windsor as he was called, then not a year old, was 
 by the treaty of Troyes King of France and England. 
 His uncle, John, Duke of Bedford, had been made 
 regent by Henry on his death-bed, and for a time all 
 seemed to go well. Charles, son of the late King, 
 claimed, it is true, the crown of France, and was 
 supported by many of the nobles, but the greater 
 part of the country was content, it seemed, to submit 
 to the English. The Duke of Bedford was an 
 excellent soldier and a good governor. He was on 
 good terms too with the two powerful princes, the 
 Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy. A sister of the 
 
THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 2-ji 
 
 latter became his wife. But it was a state of things 
 in which trouble was sure to arise before very 
 long. After all, the English had no real right 
 to be in France, and though some powerful persons 
 in that country, for reasons of their own, sup- 
 ported them, their power had no strong founda- 
 tion. Then there were perpetual quarrels at home 
 among the nobles who ruled in the young King's 
 name. The Duke of Gloucester, another uncle of 
 the young King, and Henry Beaufort, Bishop of 
 Winchester, who was also related to him, were the 
 leaders of two hostile parties in the Council, and 
 their quarrels did much harm both at home and 
 abroad. But the chief cause of the overthrow of the 
 English kingdom in France was of a very different 
 kind. This cause I shall now describe. 
 
 At the little village of Domremi, in the province of 
 Champagne, there was a peasant family of the name 
 of Dare. One of the daughters, Jeanne by name 
 (commonly spelt Joan), was a very pious and earnest 
 girl, who had been greatly moved by the sad 
 stories which she had heard of the troubles of her 
 country, divided as it was by parties among its 
 own people, and oppressed by a foreign ruler. She 
 thought much about these things, as she spent day 
 after day alone in the fields near her native village, 
 keeping her father's sheep. Before long she seemed 
 
272 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 to herself to see the figures of angels in the sky 
 and to hear voices which told her that she had a 
 great work to do for France. As time went on 
 these visions seemed to become clearer and clearer. 
 She saw Saint Margaret and Saint Catherine, and 
 heard the voice of the Archangel Michael. She 
 was to deliver the young King from his enemies, and 
 bring him to be crowned where his fathers before 
 him had been crowned, in the Cathedral of Rheims. 
 Obeying, as she thought, these commands, she went 
 to the officer in command of a neighbouring garrison 
 and told him her errand. Of course he was disposed 
 to treat her as a mad-woman or a cheat. But by 
 this time she had become famous in the country 
 round. No one doubted her goodness and piety. 
 Many were disposed to believe that she was really 
 chosen by Heaven to do a great work for France. A 
 priest who was sent to question her was much moved 
 by her earnestness, and declared that she was not a 
 witch — people in those days were terribly afraid of 
 witches. At last she got her way, so far at least 
 as to be taken to King Charles. Mounted on a 
 white horse, and dressed like a man, for this, she 
 said, was one of the things which the voices from 
 heaven commanded, with four squires attending her, 
 she rode to Chinon, where the King then was. The 
 King and his Councillors were not disposed to believe 
 
THE 'ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 273 
 
 ill her. But at last her zeal and faith prevailed, not a 
 little, we may suppose, because the King's affairs were 
 in a very bad way. 
 
 It was now the early spring of 1429, and Orleans, 
 the most important place which yet remained to 
 King Charles, had been besieged since October 12 
 in the year before by the English and Burgundians. 
 In February 1429 Sir John Falstaff, who was bring- 
 ing provisions to the besieging army, had won a 
 victory over an army of French and Scots at a battle 
 called the Battle of the Herrings. If Orleans should 
 fall,»it was plain that for some time to come at least 
 King Charles would have little hope of success. 
 This was just what the Maid declared she could 
 prevent, and the King resolved to try her. A force 
 of 7000 men was raised and sent to relieve the 
 town. Joan, splendidly armed, carrying a . sacred 
 banner, and surrounded by a troop of picked horse- 
 men, went with the army. They took a supply of 
 provisions for the town, which was carried down the 
 Loire in boats, the army marching along the bank to 
 protect them. The English tried to capture the 
 boats but failed ; both troops and provisions got 
 safely into Orleans, and Joan was received with the 
 greatest joy by the townspeople. Thenceforward she 
 was commonly called The Maid of Orleans. 
 
 The very next day, Joan, sure that the besiegers 
 
274 STORIES FROM ENGLISH 'HISTORY, 
 
 were as much disheartened by what had happened as 
 the townspeople were encouraged, prevailed upon the 
 officers in command to attack the EngHsh works. 
 The first place assaulted was a tower called St. Loup, 
 garrisoned by three hundred English. It was taken. 
 The next day another fort fell. A few days after- 
 wards the strongest position of the besiegers, the 
 Castle of Tournelles, was attacked. On tliis occasion 
 the Maid was wounded in the neck by an arrow, and 
 fell to the ground. But she revived when the arrow 
 had been drawn out, and again joined the men of 
 Orleans in the assault. The castle was captured, 
 and most of the garrison either slain or taken 
 prisoners. The spirit of the English was now quite 
 broken down. On May 8, after burning what was 
 left of their works, they gave up the siege, and 
 Orleans was safe. In the course of little more 
 than a week this wonderful girl had turned the tide 
 of war. 
 
 And now, for some time, victory seemed to follow 
 her wherever she went. Fort after fort, town after 
 town, fell into the hands of the French. At Patay 
 they ventured on a fight in the open field, a thing 
 which they had hardly ventured to do since the fatal 
 day of Agincourt, and gained a great victory. This 
 was on June i8. About three weeks afterwards, 
 on Sunday, July 8, Charles was crowned at Rheims 
 
THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 
 
 275 
 
 The maid stood by his side, holding her sacred 
 banner in her hands. 
 
 ENGLISH SOLDIERS FIGHTING IN FRANCE. 
 
 And now, feeling that her work was done, she 
 would gladly have returned to her home. The 
 voices, she said, had bidden her rouse the King 
 
276 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 from his despair, and see him crowned. This she 
 ]iad accomplished, and she asked leave to depart. 
 "What will you do.?" the King is said to have 
 asked. '' Feed my father's sheep as I was wont to 
 do," was her answer. But King Charles thought 
 too much of the help which she gave him to let her 
 go, and she stayed, though much against her will. 
 
 And now her good fortune seemed in a way to 
 leave her. King Charles made an attack on Paris, 
 which the English still held. The Maid was among 
 the foremost in an assault that was made on Sep- 
 tember 12 on one of the suburbs of the city. She 
 scaled the wall, and when thrown back into the 
 ditch, rose again and waved her banner to encourage 
 the assailants. But nothing could be done, and when 
 it was found that her special sword ^ was broken, men 
 began to whisper that the favour of Heaven had been 
 withdrawn. Again she entreated the King to allow 
 her to depart, and again he refused. 
 
 It was near the end of May in the following year 
 (1430) that she fought her last battle. The Duke of 
 Burgundy was besieging Compiegne, and the Maid 
 marched with a considerable force to relieve the 
 
 1 This was a sword with five crosses upon it. It had been 
 laid up near one of the altars of a church, at some former time, 
 and had been forgotten. Joan described it exactly, and also 
 the place where it had been put. It was given to her, and she 
 used it ever afterwards. 
 
 \ 
 
THE ENGLISH IN FRANCE. 277 
 
 town. She made her way through the lines of 
 the besiegers into the town. The next day she 
 headed a sally against the enemy, and took one 
 of their posts. Then her men were out-numbered 
 and compelled to retreat. Joan, staying behind 
 while she tried to rally them, was overtaken by a 
 Burgundian archer, and pulled from her horse. "The 
 English were rejoiced," says the chronicler Monstrelct, 
 "and more pleased than if they had taken five hun- 
 dred other combatants, for they feared no other 
 leader or captain so much as they had hitherto 
 feared the Maid." When shortly after the Duke of 
 Burgundy himself came to inspect his army at 
 Compiegne, he went to see his prisoner at the 
 lodgings where she was kept. " He spoke some 
 words to her," says Monstrelet, '' but what they were 
 I do not now recollect, although I was present." One 
 cannot help being sorry that Monstrelet does not tell 
 us more about this wonderful young woman. But he 
 does not seem to have been very much interested 
 in her. 
 
 What remains to say about her is very sad indeed. 
 The Duke of Burgundy gave her up to the Bishop of 
 Beauvais, who tried her as a heretic and a witch. 
 As she declared that she was bound to obey the 
 heavenly voices which she had heard, her judges 
 found her guilty of heresy, and condemned her to 
 
278 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 death. She was persuaded to acknowledge that she 
 had been wrong, and that she was bound to obey the 
 Church rather than the voices. Having signed this 
 confession — she could not write, but " made her 
 mark" — her punishment was changed from death to 
 imprisonment for life. But her enemies were not 
 satisfied. The dress of a soldier was left in her cell ; 
 she put it on, and her gaolers, who had been watch- 
 ing her, found her in it. This was taken as a fresh 
 offence ; she was again condemned to death, and 
 burnt on May 30, 143 1, in the market-place of 
 Rouen. One is glad to think that this cruel and 
 wicked act was not done by the English. King 
 Charles, who owed his throne to her, did not take 
 the least trouble to save her life. 
 
 Six months afterwards Henry VI. was crowned 
 King of France in Paris. But his cause never pros- 
 pered, and when the Duke of Bedford died, as he did 
 about four years afterwards, it became quite hopeless. 
 The war went on indeed, and sometimes one side got 
 the better and sometimes the other. At last, in 
 145 1, nothing was left of all the English possessions in 
 France but the town of Calais. Things in fact were 
 exactly as they had been thirty-six years before, 
 when Henry V. began his French war. All the blood 
 and treasure that had been spent had been spent in 
 vain. 
 
JACK CADE. 279 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 JACK CADE. 
 
 The rebellion of Wat Tyler about which 1 wrote in 
 the first chapter of this book happened just thirty-five 
 years after the great battle of Poitiers, and the 
 rebellion of Jack Cade, about which I am going to 
 write in this, exactly the same time after Agincourt. 
 And this was not a mere chance. Both Poitiers 
 and Agincourt were glorious victories, but it might 
 have been better for England if they had never been 
 won, for they made the nation hope to do what never 
 could be done, that is, conquer Erance. The English 
 went on spending lives and money without end, and 
 all for nothing. Men went away from every English 
 village to the French wars, and never came back 
 again ; the taxes grew heavier and heavier ; and the 
 nobles and knights asked more and more from their 
 tenants. Sometimes money was wanted when they 
 had to fit themselves out for a campaign with their 
 squires and their men-at-arms, sometimes to raise a 
 ransom if they happened to be taken prisoners. All 
 
28o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 'these things and others like them caused a great deal 
 of trouble, as indeed was sure to be the case when the 
 rulers of the country were more anxious to get hold of 
 what belonged to other people than to do their best 
 with what was their own. The result was great 
 discontent, which broke out now and then into open 
 rebellion when there was some special cause, such as 
 a bad harvest or a new tax. 
 
 , In the summer of 1450 the three counties that lie 
 in the south-eastern corner of England, Kent, Surrey, 
 and Sussex, rebelled, under the leadership of a certain 
 Jack Cade, who called himself Captain of Kent. They 
 complained that the King had bad advisers about him, 
 that the English possessions in France had been lost 
 by treachery, and that the taxes were unbearably 
 heavy. Who Jack Cade himself was is not known 
 for certain. He gave out that he belonged to the 
 noble family of Mortimer. It should be observed that 
 the leaders of Wat Tyler's rebellion did not pretend 
 to be anything but workmen, whereas the chief 
 of this pretended that he was a man of high birth. 
 According to some accounts he was an Irishman, 
 who had fought in France against the English, but 
 had afterwards come over to this country. He led 
 his men to Blackheath, where they encamped. It is 
 said that there was a great multitude of them, and 
 that they were well disciplined and well armed. The 
 
JACK CADE. 
 
 281 
 
 King or rather his ministers, for Henry himself had 
 very Httle spirit, and was for the best part led by 
 others, raised an army of 15,000 men and marched 
 against the rebels. Cade did not feel himself able 
 
 LAHOURERS. 
 
 to meet so strong a force, and retreated southward. 
 The King was preparing to pursue him, but his wife, 
 Margaret of Anjou, is said to have been afraid that 
 he might meet with some injury, and to have pre- 
 vailed upon him to stay behind himself, and send two 
 
282 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 of his generals, Sir Humphrey Stafford and his brother 
 William, to attack them. Cade had been afraid to 
 resist the King. Perhaps he knew that his followers 
 would not back him up in doing so. But it was a 
 different thing when he had to do with a couple of 
 knights. At Sevenoaks he turned upon his pursuers 
 and defeated them, killing both their leaders. After 
 winning this victory he marched northward again, 
 and encamped once more on Blackheath. And now 
 the city of London came over to him. The Common 
 Council voted that the gates of the town should be 
 opened to him, and he marched hjs troops across 
 London Bridge, and took possession. This he did 
 by striking his sword on " London Stone " i and 
 crying out at the same time, " Now is Mortimer 
 Lord of London." 
 
 The King, still under the influence of his wife, who 
 did not behave with anything like the courage that she 
 afterwards showed, had fled to Kenil worth Castle in 
 Warwickshire, and it seemed as if the rebellion were 
 likely to succeed. For a time Cade was able to keep 
 his men in good order. They remained in the city 
 during the day, but without plundering the property 
 of the citizens or doing any ipjury to man, woman, or 
 child. Every night their leader took them across the 
 
 1 " London Stone " may still be seen in the wall of St. 
 Swithin's Church in Cannon Street, 
 
JACK CADE. 283 
 
 bridge to Sonthwark, which is on the other side of the 
 river. But this happy state of things did not last very 
 long. Cade seized the Treasurer, Lord Saye and Sele, 
 who had made himself very unpopular, and brought 
 him before the Lord Mayor. The Lord Mayor con- 
 demned him, and he was executed in Cheapside.^ 
 Another victim was Lord Saye and Sele's son-in-law, 
 Crowmer, who was Sheriff of Kent. The citizens of 
 London did not approve of these proceedings, and put- 
 ting themselves under the command of one Matthew 
 Gough, who had the reputation of being a skilful 
 soldier, tried to prevent Cade and his followers from 
 coming over the bridge from Southwark into London. 
 A fierce fight took place. The Londoners, who had 
 posted themselves at the southern end of the bridge, 
 were driven back to the middle, where there was a 
 drawbridge. Matthew Gough was killed in the battle. 
 But though the rebels had the best of the fighting, 
 Cade did not feel strong enough to enter London 
 again, and remained on the south side of the river. 
 And now the King's counsellors thought that they 
 might be disposed to listen to offers of peace. The 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Win- 
 
 ^ Then the great market of London. " Cheap " means 
 market. So we have a " chapman,"' a man who sells ; and 
 such names of towns as Chipping Norton, Chipping Barnet, 
 Chipping Camden; etc. 
 
284 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Chester were sent to treat with them. They found 
 Cade dressed in a splendid suit of gilded armour 
 which had belonged to Sir Humphrey Stafford. The 
 Archbishop afterwards spoke of him as having been 
 '* sober in talk and wise in reasoning, though arrogant 
 in heart and stiff in opinion." The Archbishop 
 promised that the things complained of should be set 
 right, and that no man should be punished for having 
 taken part in the rebellion. On hearing this Cade's 
 followers dispersed to their homes. They had got, 
 they thought, what they wanted, and now the sooner 
 they went back to their own business the better. But 
 Cade was not satisfied. Perhaps he was afraid that, 
 having been the leader of the whole affair, he would 
 be excepted from the pardon. Perhaps, having had a 
 taste of power, he was not willing to give it up. As 
 his own people had left him, he is said to have 
 provided himself with a new force by breaking open 
 the gaols and setting free the prisoners. But this was 
 a kind of army which did not hold together very long. 
 With some of his followers Cade made his way to 
 Rochester, whither he sent the plunder which he had 
 collected. About this plunder they quarrelled, and 
 Cade, leaving his companions, tried to make his escape 
 alone. By this time a price of £1000 had been set 
 upon his head. At Heathfield, a village in the Weald 
 of Sussex, he was overtaken by Alexander Iden, who 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 285 
 
 had been made Sheriff of Kent, and mortally wounded. 
 Iden would have taken him to London, but he died 
 on the way. 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 THE TWO ROSES. 
 
 The rebellion of Jack Cade lasted but a few weeks 
 only ; the Civil War, which is commonly called the 
 " War of the Roses," went on, with times of peace in 
 between, for thirty years and more. The first battle 
 was fought at St. Albans on May 22, 1455, the last 
 at Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. 
 
 The first and most easily described cause of this 
 war was the claim of an elder branch of the royal 
 family of England as against a younger. If you will 
 look back to p. 15 of this volume, you will see how 
 Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, was descended 
 from Lionel of Clarence, tJiird son of Edward III. 
 It will be enough to say that the Duke of York, son 
 of this Edmund Mortimer's sister Anne, claimed the 
 throne as having a better right to it than Henry VL, 
 who, as the same table shows, was descended from 
 Edward \\\!s fourth son, John of Gaunt. 
 
286 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 But this family claim after all did not go for very 
 much. Possibly it might never have been heard of, 
 or would, at least, have come to nothing, if Henry V. 
 had lived, or had left behind him a wiser and more 
 capable son than Flenry VI. But things were so 
 badly managed by Henry and his advisers that the 
 nation, or at least a great part of it, looked for a 
 change. Then the Lollards or followers of Wiclif, 
 who had been favoured by John of Gaunt, were 
 persecuted by his descendants, and naturally turned 
 to another branch of the family, which might, they 
 hoped, treat them better. Another cause of the war 
 was that the nobles, not having any longer the French 
 to fight with, began to fight against each other. 
 Lastly, the towns, which were growing richer and 
 stronger, took up the side of the Duke of York, as 
 being one who would try to make certain reforms 
 which were much wanted, and generally to take 
 their part against the nobles and bishops. 
 
 The first battle took place, as has been said, 
 at St. Albans, in 1455.^ The Duke of York had 
 not then got as far as claiming the crown. He only 
 demanded that the King should dismiss a very weak 
 and worthless adviser that he had, Edmund Beaufort, 
 
 "^ There were two battles at St. Albans. The second hap- 
 pened not quite six years afterward (Feb. 17, 1461). 
 
THE TWO ROSES, 2S7 
 
 Duke of Somerset.^ In order to see that this was 
 done, he, in company with some other nobles, of 
 
 HENRY VI. AND MARGAKET. 
 
 whom the Earl of Warwick was one, marched towards 
 London. The King's troops came out to meet him, 
 
 ^ Edmund Beaufort was a cousin of the King's, being a 
 grandson of John of Gaunt. 
 
288 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 and the two armies met in the town of St. Albans. 
 The King's soldiers got into the town first, and made 
 barricades across the streets. These they held for a 
 time, and so kept the Duke of York's men in check, 
 but the Earl of Warwick got in by another way, and 
 took them in the rear. After a short struggle they 
 fled. The battle lasted little more than an hour, and 
 not many were killed on either side, but among these 
 was the Duke of Somerset.^ 
 
 The Duke of York now became the most powerful 
 man in the kingdom, being made " Protectgr of the 
 Realm." But Queen Margaret, who had far more 
 to do with the government of the country than her 
 husband, never liked him, and did not rest till she 
 had deprived him of his office. For the time the 
 
 ^ It was the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Warwick who, 
 according to the common story, chose the white and the red 
 roses as badges of their two parties. Shakespeare (i He7iry F/., 
 Act II, sc. iv.) makes the plucker of the White Rose to be 
 Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. 
 
 {Scene— The Temple Gardens) 
 
 " Plan. Let him that is a true-born gentleman, 
 And stands upon the honour of his birth, 
 If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, 
 From off this brier pluck a white rose with me. 
 
 Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, 
 But dare maintain the party of the truth, 
 Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me." 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 289 
 
 Duke of York made no resistance, but retired to his 
 castle in the north. The next thing was that the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, with others who were 
 anxious to keep the peace, endeavoured to reconcile 
 the two parties. For a time they succeeded ; the 
 chiefs went to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, 
 walking arm-in-arm, while the Duke of York himself 
 gave his hand to the Queen. But the peace did not 
 last very long. The Earl of Warwick was very 
 nearly killed by a mob in a London street, and fled 
 to Calais, of which he was governor. From that time 
 he began to do his best to take the crown from 
 Henry and give it to the Duke of York. 
 
 In 1459 the war began again. First the White 
 Rose was victorious, then the Red, then the White 
 again. Lord Salisbury, who was father of the Earl 
 of Warwick, was marching with 5000 men to join 
 the Duke of York, when Lord Audley fell upon him 
 with an army of double the strength. Salisbury was 
 the better general of the two — indeed the leaders 
 of the White Rose or Yorkist party were, on the 
 whole, more skilful than those on the other side 
 — and pretending to fly, drew the enemy into a 
 dangerous position. He then turned upon him 
 and defeated him with heavy loss. Lord Audley 
 and as many as 2000 men were killed, and a great 
 number of prisoners was taken. But in a few weeks 
 
290 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 all the advantage thus gained was lost. The Queen 
 raised an army and marched to Ludlow, where the 
 Duke of York with the two Nevilles^ were encamped. 
 For some reason the Duke's army lost heart ; one of 
 Warwick's chief officers went over to the Queen with 
 his men ; the army dispersed without fighting — its 
 sudden breaking up is called " The Rout of Ludlow/' 
 — and their leaders had to fly for their lives, the Duke 
 of York escaping to Ireland, the Earl of Warwick and 
 his father to Calais. 
 
 But Queen Margaret used her victory very badly. 
 Towns which were suspected of favouring the Duke 
 of York were given up to plunder. Many of his 
 friends were deprived of their property ; some were 
 put to death. These things made the King un- 
 popular, and Warwick, who had a safe refuge in 
 Calais, came back to England, landing at Sandwich. 
 The men of Kent joined him at once, and he marched 
 to London, which was then, and remained to the end, 
 on the Yorkist side. Queen Margaret had not had 
 time to gather all her forces ; what she had were 
 encamped outside the walls of Northampton. War- 
 wick marched north with all the speed that he could 
 use to attack this army before it could be joined by 
 the Queen's friends from other parts of England. 
 He reached Northampton on July lo, and at once 
 ^ Salisbury and Warwick. 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 291 
 
 Stormed the camp. The Duke of Buckingham, who 
 was a great-grandson of Edward III.} the Earl of 
 Shrewsbury, and more than three hundred knights, 
 were slain. The Queen, with her young son, fled to 
 Wales. The Duke of York now thought that the 
 time was come for him to claim the crown. He went 
 to London, and calling a Parliament, demanded that 
 he should be recognized as the true King of England. 
 But he did not find even his own friends ready to 
 yield. The King was not a little beloved, notwith- 
 standing all his weakness. And then he and his 
 father and his grandfather had been Kings of England 
 for more than forty years. Parliament had solemnly 
 acknowledged their right to rule again and again ; 
 there was no one in the kingdom but had taken the 
 oath of allegiance to him. Warwick himself told the 
 Duke that he must not claim to be King ; he must be 
 content to be Regent. At last the matter was com- 
 promised. Henry was to be King as long as he 
 lived ; the Duke of York was to succeed him. As for 
 the claims of the young Prince, they were set aside. 
 
 King Henry was content to accept these terms ; 
 perhaps we may say that he could not refuse them. 
 But Queen Margaret was not satisfied at all. She 
 hurried to the north, where she had many friends, the 
 
 ^ His mother was daughter of Thomas of Woodstock, 
 Edward's youngest son. 
 
292 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 great house of Percy being chief among them, and 
 with their help raised another army. The Duke of 
 York marched northward to meet them, and finding 
 them at Sandal Castle, a home of his own, near 
 Wakefield, resolved to attack them. His friends 
 advised him to wait, for his army was not equal to the 
 Queen's, and great forces were on their way to join 
 him under his son, the Earl of March. He would not 
 Hsten to this prudent advice, but engaged at once. 
 The result was a complete defeat. His army was 
 broken by an attack in front ; and in the midst 
 of their confusion some troops who had been lying 
 in ambush attacked them from behind. The Duke 
 himself was killed. All the men of rank who were 
 taken prisoners were executed the next day, the Earl 
 of Salisbury among them. Their heads were stuck on 
 the walls of Wakefield, that of York having a crown 
 of paper put round it. The most shocking thing in 
 the story is the murder of the Duke's second son, the 
 Earl of Rutland, a youth of seventeen. A priest had 
 the lad in his charge, and was taking him to a place 
 of safety, when he was overtaken by some followers of 
 Lord Clifford. The young Earl threw himself on his 
 knees before Lord Clifford and begged for mercy. 
 " No," cried the savage noble, " your father slew my 
 father, and I will slay thee and all thy kin ! " and he 
 plunged a dagger into his heart. 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 293 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE TWO ROSES {continued). 
 
 The death of the Duke of York did not do as 
 much harm to his cause as one might have thought it 
 would have done. He was a clever man, and of a 
 much finer and more generous temper than any, we 
 may say, of the nobles of his time, but he was not a 
 skilful general. His son Edward, who succeeded 
 him, was in this respect much superior, though he 
 was a much worse man. And in something of the 
 same way the death of the Earl of Salisbury was an 
 advantage. The whole power of the family now 
 came into the hands of his son, the Earl of Warwick, 
 and Warwick, like Edward, was a cleverer man than 
 his father. 
 
 Just seven weeks after the battle of Wakefield, the 
 Yorkists suffered another defeat. Warwick was 
 anxious above all things to keep London, which was, 
 indeed, the chief strength of his cause. He got 
 together in haste all the troops that he could, and 
 
294 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 marched thither. Queen Margaret, who was as 
 anxious to gain the great city as he was not to lose 
 it, had come from the north, though she had not 
 used all the speed that she might. Her soldiers were 
 bent on plundering, and she did not, perhaps could 
 not, keep them in order. The two armies met at St. 
 Albans, and Warwick was defeated. 
 
 And now, if the Queen had pressed on at once, 
 the Lancastrians might have been successful. This 
 time, it would seem, her husband stopped her. He 
 could not bear to think that the savage soldiers, 
 who had done so much harm in England already, 
 should plunder and burn the capital city of his 
 kingdom.^ He persuaded the Queen to wait till 
 the Londoners, who were greatly in favour of the 
 other party, should make a regular surrender of 
 their city. And while she waited, the opportunity 
 was lost. 
 
 The Duke of York's son, the young Earl of March, 
 was in the west of England when the news of his 
 father's defeat and death reached him. On February 
 2, 1461, he met the Lancastrians, under the command 
 of Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, at Mortimer's 
 Cross in Herefordshire, and defeated them. Jasper 
 fled from the field. His father Owen, who, thirty- 
 
 1 They had scarcely been prevented from destroying the 
 splendid Abbey of St. Albans. 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 295 
 
 three years before, had married Katharine of France, 
 the fifth Henry's widow, was with him. The stout 
 old man refused to fly, was taken prisoner, carried to 
 Hereford, and beheaded there. 
 
 Edward went on towards London, and was joined 
 
 on the way by Warwick. The Queen, who had not 
 been able to keep her troops together, did not wait 
 for their coming, but retreated northwards. The 
 young Duke entered London, and without waiting 
 for the assent of Parliament, caused himself to be 
 proclaimed King by the title of Edward IV. 
 
296 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 It was no time for him to sit still and enjoy his 
 new dignity. In the course of a few days he and 
 Warwick marched northwards, and met the Lancas- 
 trians, who were under the command of the Duke of 
 Somerset, at Towton, a village about ten miles south- 
 west of York. The battle that followed, fought on 
 March 29 (Palm Sunday), 1461, was the greatest 
 if we regard the numbers engaged,^ and one of the 
 most important, ever fought in this country. 
 
 The Duke of Somerset posted his army on some 
 high land in front of the village of Towton. On his 
 right was a steep slope, going down to the beck or 
 brook called the Cock. This is commonly a small 
 stream, but it was then in flood, and could not be 
 crossed. On his left there was another slope, not so 
 steep, but still steep enough to make an attack 
 difficult. In front also the ground fell, but more 
 S^ently. His great fault was, according to a recent 
 writer, that he crowded his men too much together 
 and so lost the advantage of his larger numbers. 
 Something of the same kind had been done by the. 
 French at Agincourt. King Edward and Warwick 
 came on from the south, unseen because of a snow- 
 
 1 It may be reckoned that the two armies together numbered 
 about 10O5O00 men, of whom three-fifths were on the Lancas- 
 trian, two-fifths on the Yorkist sides. Both sides, however, 
 suffered some losses before the decisive day, and it is possible 
 that the numbers engaged at Hastings were nearly equal. 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 297 
 
 storm which was blowing from that direction, and 
 was therefore driving into the faces of the Lancas- 
 trians. But they could see better than they were 
 seen, and sent volleys of arrows among the enemy. 
 These tried to return them, but to little purpose. 
 The Yorkists drew back when they had discharged 
 their arrows ; when the volleys of the enemy began 
 to fail they came on again. At last the Lancastrians 
 were provoked to leave their post, to descend the 
 slope in front, and to climb that which rose on the 
 opposite side of the valley to where the Yorkist army 
 stood. And still the snow beat fiercely in their faces. 
 The fight went on fiercely for many hours. About 
 noon, the Duke of Norfolk, who had been some miles 
 behind, came up with fresh troops from Ferrybridge, 
 at which place he had crossed the Aire, and fell on 
 the left flank of the Lancastrians. Still they held 
 out ; it was late in the afternoon before they broke 
 and fled. Many were slain on the field of battle ; 
 it is said that as many as 30,000 bodies were 
 buried at Towton, and many were drowned in the 
 flooded brook. By the end of the day the Lancas- 
 trian army had ceased to be. No prisoners were 
 taken. Never have Englishmen fought so savagely 
 as they did in the War of the Roses. 
 
 Even after this Queen Margaret did not give up 
 hope. She. had still some friends in England, and 
 
298 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 she now began to look for help to the enemies of her 
 country. She gave up Berwick-upon-Tweed to the 
 Scotch, and she pledged Calais to the French, and 
 got some soldiers in return. The great house of the 
 Percies was still on her side, and so were others 
 among the nobles of the north. They fought for 
 her at Hedgeley Moor and were beaten ; they fought 
 again at Hexham, and met with the same fate. 
 King Henry was at Hexham, but soon fled from the 
 field. He escaped, though three of the servants who 
 waited on him were taken. For a year he was in 
 hiding, and was then discovered, and taken to London. 
 Queen Margaret, who had her son, then eleven years 
 old, with her, fled towards the Scottish border. She 
 went through not a few hardships and dangers before 
 she could make good her escape. She fell among a 
 party of plunderers, but contrived to get away while 
 they were quarrelling over their booty. A few hours 
 afterwards she met — so the story runs — one of the 
 outlaws who haunted the great forest of Hexham. 
 She told him that she was the Queen of England, 
 and that the boy with her was the heir to the English 
 crown ; and she begged him to protect, if not herself, 
 at least the child. The man was moved by her 
 prayers, and found a hiding-place for mother and son 
 till their friends could arrange for their escape to 
 France. 
 
THE TWO ROSES. 299 
 
 The battle of Hexham was fought on May 15, 
 1464. About a month afterwards Warwick took 
 Bamborough Castle, the last place in England that 
 held out for the Lancastrians, and for six years the 
 land had peace. 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 "THE END OF THE KING-MAKER." 
 
 Edward had not long been King before a quarrel 
 began between him and his powerful subject, the Earl 
 of Warwick. Warwick was a prudent statesman, and 
 thought that the King could not do better than 
 marry a French princess. This would strengthen 
 him on his throne, because it would prevent the 
 French King, who was the nearest and most power- 
 ful of his neighbours, from helping the House of 
 Lancaster. But Edward wanted, as indeed was quite 
 natural, to please himself in the matter of marrying. 
 He had fallen in love with Lady Elizabeth Grey 
 of Groby, daughter of a certain Lord Rivers who had 
 fought on Henry's side in the War of the Roses. 
 This lady he married in 1464. Warwick was greatly 
 
300 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 displeased at this, and became still more angry when 
 he found that the King was disposed to raise his 
 wife's kinsfolk to power. Then another cause of 
 difference came up. Warwick still desired an alli- 
 ance with France, but the King was more disposed 
 to make friends with the Duke of Burgundy, Charles 
 surnamed the Bold, and promised to give him his 
 sister Margaret for wife. Edward and his brother 
 the Duke of Clarence were not on good terms, and 
 the Duke made friends with Warwick, whose daughter 
 he married in the year 1469. In this year the quarrel 
 between the King and Warwick broke out into open 
 war. There was a rebellion in the north, which the 
 Earl and his friends secretly encouraged. The King 
 was not strong enough to put it down, and was 
 actually made prisoner, his keeper being Warwick's 
 brother, the Archbishop of York. About the same 
 time the Queen's father and brother, who had been 
 taken prisoners at a battle in Northamptonshire, were 
 put to death. Warwick was now the real ruler of 
 England ; but in the next year King Edward con- 
 trived to escape, and Warwick had to fly from the 
 country. He now made up his mind to break with 
 King Edward altogether, and to put Henry again 
 upon the throne. By the help of King Louis of 
 France, he made friends with Queen Margaret. 
 Shortly afterwards he returned to England, where 
 
' THE END OF THE KING-MAKE R: 301 
 
 his brother, Lord Montague, had been busy raising 
 an army. And now Edward, in his turn, was com- 
 pelled to fly from the country, and to take refuge with 
 his brother-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy. The 
 Duke, while pretending to favour neither of the two 
 parties, secretly helped him, and Edward returned to 
 England. In Yorkshire, where he landed, having been 
 driven out of his proper course by a storm, he was not 
 well received, but as he went southward, great num- 
 bers flocked to join him. The Duke of Clarence, 
 "false, fleeting, perjured," joined him, and when he 
 reached London he was at once admitted within the 
 gates, and found the citizens ready to help him with 
 both money and men, Warwick had followed him 
 from the north, and King Edward lost no time in 
 turning back to meet him. He marched to Barnet, 
 taking King Henry from his prison in the Tower 
 with him. 
 
 Warwick, who had with him the Earl of Oxford, 
 and his brother, Lord Montague, had encamped on 
 the table-land which lies to the north of Barnet. 
 Edward marched up Barnet Hill without being 
 hindered, passed through Barnet town, and drew up 
 his army on the southern part of what is now known 
 as Hadley Green. The country was covered with a 
 thick mist, and it seems that neither of the two 
 commanders knew exactly where they were, or where 
 
302 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the enemy was to be found. King Edward, in par- 
 ticular, meaning to draw up his army in hne over 
 against that of the Earl of Warwick, drew it up 
 really far too much to the right. The mistake really 
 turned out to his advantage, for the cannonade which 
 the enemy directed during the night on his left wing, 
 or rather where they supposed the left wing to be, 
 did no harm, the balls falling in an empty space. 
 About five o'clock in the morning — it was Easter Day, 
 April 14, 147 1 — the trumpet sounded for battle, and 
 King Edward's men began to move forwards. No 
 regular plan of attack could be carried out, so thick 
 was the mist. Whenever it grew lighter for a time, 
 and this company or that could see a portion of the 
 enemy, there was some fierce fighting. Then it 
 became thicker again, and the combatants were 
 almost obliged to hold their hands. At first the 
 battle seemed likely to go against King Edward. 
 Lord Montague and the Earl of Oxford found his 
 left wing very weak, and drove it before them in 
 confusion. Some of the flying soldiers took refuge in 
 the houses of Barnet town, some tried to hide them- 
 selves in the great forest called Enfield Chase, which 
 in those days came close up to the town.^ A few 
 even fled as far as London, carrying with them false 
 
 1 What is now known as Hadley Common or Chase is a part 
 of this forest. 
 
THE END OF THE KING- MAKER: 
 
 303 
 
 tidings of how King Edward's army had been alto- 
 gether defeated. But, thanks to the mist, the rest of 
 the army knew very Httle of what had happened, and 
 fought on as bravely and cheerfully as if nothing had 
 gone wrong. On the other hand, the pursuers took 
 to plundering the houses of the townsmen, and their 
 
 THE BATTLE OF BARNET. 
 
 leaders had much trouble in gathering them together 
 again and putting them in good order. When they 
 had done this to the best of their power, and were 
 making their way back to the field of battle, another 
 misfortune happened to them, and of this also the 
 mist may have been, in part at least, the cause. 
 
304 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 They came upon the centre of their own Hne of 
 battle, and being taken by them for enemies were 
 received with a shower of arrows. One reason for 
 this mistake is said to have been that the Earl of 
 Oxford's men wore a badge that was very like that 
 of King Edward's soldiers. These latter had on their 
 coats a sun with rays streaming from it, while the 
 Earl of Oxford's badge was a star with five points. 
 The one may well have been taken for the other, 
 especially on a misty day. Certain it is that the 
 right wing, when coming back to the battle, received 
 a volley from their own friends. Some of them set 
 up a cry of " Treachery ! treachery ! " and fled from 
 the field, the Earl himself being among them. The 
 archers too, when they found out what they had 
 done, were not a little disturbed. King Edward saw 
 at once the confusion among his enemies, and felt 
 that the time was come for striking a great blow. 
 He had kept in reserve behind his first line some 
 companies of horse and foot. These were of course 
 quite fresh, while the rest of the two armies had been 
 fighting ever since dawn, that is for nearly five hours. 
 King Edward himself led them on, and fought at 
 their head. There was not a stronger or more skil- 
 ful man-at-arms than he in either army, and that day 
 he fought more fiercely than ever. The Earl of 
 Warwick's line was soon broken through, and though 
 
'THE END OF THE KING-MAKER: 305 
 
 here and there small parties of his men continued to 
 resist, the victory was beyond all doubt with King 
 Edward. By an hour before noon all was over, 
 though the pursuit may have lasted some time 
 longer. The King-maker and his brother, Lord 
 Montague, were found dead on the field. An obelisk, 
 set up about a hundred and fifty years ago, marks 
 the spot where, according to tradition, the two were 
 slain. Another memory of the battle is preserved in 
 the name of " Dead Man's Bottom," given to a hollow 
 in Hadley Wood. The two brothers were buried in 
 Bisham Abbey. 
 
 But King Edward had one more battle to fight 
 before he could enjoy his kingdom in peace. On the 
 very day of the battle of Barnet, Queen Margaret 
 landed at Weymouth, and was joined by some of the 
 old friends of her cause. Her first intention had been 
 to march on London, but when she heard of War- 
 wick's defeat and death, she turned westwards. 
 Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, was raising troops 
 in Wales, and if she could join him her chances of 
 victory would be much improved. She got: as far as 
 Gloucester, but the Governor of the city would not 
 admit her men within the walls. Thus they were not 
 able to cross the Severn, as they had hoped to do, 
 by Gloucester bridge. They now marched north- 
 wards, hoping to get across the Avon at Tewkesbury, 
 
306 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 and so make their way to Worcester, and from 
 Worcester into Wales. King Edward was following 
 them, and at Tewkesbury was so close behind that 
 they could not hope to make the passage of the 
 Avon without fighting. Queen Margaret was for 
 moving on, but the soldiers were utterly wearied, for 
 they had marched more than forty miles within the 
 last twenty-four hours, and their leaders resolved to 
 fight where they were. The two armies were about 
 equal in numbers ; but King Edward was a far 
 better leader than Somerset,^ and his soldiers were in 
 better condition. Anyhow the battle was soon over. 
 Somerset, who would probably have done better if he 
 had remained in the strong position which he had 
 taken up, and been content to defend himself, saw, as 
 he thought, an opportunity of attacking the enemy, 
 and fell upon the left wing of Edward's army. He 
 was beaten off, and falling back upon his own lines, 
 put them into confusion. King Edward now charged 
 the centre of the Lancastrians. It broke and fled, 
 and the day was lost. As there is a " Dead Man's 
 Bottom " near the field of Barnet, so there is a 
 " Bloody Meadow " by the side of the Avon below 
 
 ^ There were three Dukes of Somerset, Beauforts, and descend- 
 ants of John of Gaunt : (i) Edmund, killed at the first battle 
 of St. Albans ; (2) Henry, taken prisoner at the battle of Hex- 
 ham and beheaded ; (3) Edmund, son of Henry, taken prisoner 
 at Tewkesbury and beheaded. 
 
' THE END OF THE KING-MAKER: 307 
 
 Tewkesbury. Probably the name marks the place 
 where the fugitives, unable to cross the river or get 
 into the town, were slaughtered by the conquerors. 
 Here, it may be. Prince Edward, the last heir of the 
 Lancastrian line, was slain. It seems tolerably cer- 
 tain that he fell either in the battle or in the pursuit. 
 Shakespeare's story — if indeed the play of Henry VI, 
 be Shakespeare's — is that he was taken prisoner, and 
 brought before King Edward, and that, haughtily 
 maintaining his right to the throne, he was stabbed 
 by the King and his two brothers, the Dukes of 
 Clarence and Gloucester. 
 
 The battle of Tewkesbury was fought on May 
 4, 1471. On the twenty-second of the same month 
 the body of Henry VI. was exposed to public view 
 in St. Paul's Cathedral, London. It was said that 
 he had died a natural death, but no one doubted 
 that he had been murdered, and most people 
 believed that the murderer was Richard, Duke of 
 Gloucester. 
 
 Queen Margaret, who had been taken prisoner at 
 Tewkesbury, was kept in prison till the year 1476, 
 when Louis XL, King of France, ransomed her by 
 paying fifty thousand gold crowns. But as she was 
 allowed to leave England, she was obliged solemnly 
 to give up all her claims to the crown, and King 
 Louis got in return for his money a surrender of all 
 
3oS STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 her rights to the provinces which she should have 
 inherited from her father and mother. She died in 
 1481. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER. 
 
 There never was anything that made a greater 
 difference to the world than when books began to be 
 printed, instead of being written by the hand. This 
 wonderful invention was not made all at once. First 
 there was printing from blocks, which is done by 
 drawing or writing something on a piece of wood or 
 metal, and taking an impression from it. But real 
 printing began when a letter, or sometimes two or 
 three letters, were made in wood or metal, put 
 together in words, and then, having been covered 
 with ink, were stamped on paper. These letters 
 made in metal, for wood was soon given up, are 
 called type. Type that was movable, i.e. could be 
 put together and then taken to pieces, was the great 
 secret of printing. When this was done, a real begin- 
 ning was made. It is not certain who first did this. 
 But it is commonly believed to have been one Guten- 
 berg, who set up in business at Mentz in 1441, and in 
 
WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER. 
 
 y^i.) 
 
 the following year printed two small books. In 1455 
 he printed a Bible which is called the Mazarin. The 
 first English printer was William Caxton, who was 
 born about 1422. For many years he was engaged 
 
 CAXTON BEFORE EDWARD IV. 
 
 in trade — he had been apprenticed to a mercer — and 
 lived in Bruges, as governor of the English traders in 
 that city. But he was always fond of books, and 
 when he was about forty-seven years of age he began 
 to translate from the French a book about the Trojan 
 
3IO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 War. Not long after he entered the service of the 
 Duchess of Burgundy (sister to our King Edward 
 IV.), and on September 19, 147 1, he presented to her 
 his translation, which he had by that time finished. 
 She was much pleased with the book. What a great 
 lady liked was sure to be popular ; so many people 
 wanted to have copies that Caxton's hand, as he tells 
 us himself, grew tired with writing, and his eyes 
 dimmed with overmuch looking at the white paper. 
 Then he began to think of printing. 
 
 There was a printer in Bruges at this time of the 
 name of Collard Mansion, who had his printing press 
 in a room over a church porch. Caxton learnt the 
 art from him, and the book was printed, as was also 
 another, about chess, which was published in the 
 following year. In 1476 Caxton left Bruges and 
 returned to England (from which he had been absent 
 five-and-thirty years), bringing with him a " fount "^ 
 of Collard Mansion's type. 
 
 The place which he chose for carrying on his new 
 business was the "Abbey" of Westminster. When 
 
 1 A " fount " of type is a set of type, containing a sufficient 
 number of letters for the printing of a book or books. Of some 
 letters there must be many more than of others, many more e's, 
 for instance, than z's. We know that Caxton got his type from 
 Mansion, because there are books still existing printed by both 
 of them, and Caxton's first books have letters of the same shape 
 as we see in Mansion's. 
 
WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER. 3!i 
 
 we now speak of " Westminster Abbey," we mean the 
 beautiful church founded by Edward the Confessor, 
 as has been told in the first volume of these Stories.^ 
 But at the time of which I am now writing the word 
 meant much more. There was then a great house 
 for monks, who were ruled by an Abbot, and all the 
 buildings belonging to this were called the " Abbey." 
 Among these were a gaol for the safe keeping of 
 prisoners, and an almonry, where alms were given to 
 the poor. Some houses near the Almonry were called 
 by the same name, and in one of these, known as 
 " Redhall House," Caxton set up his printing press.- 
 The first book printed in this place was published in 
 
 1477. 
 
 For fourteen years he lived and worked in West- 
 minster. He was an important person in the parish 
 (St. Margaret's, Westminster), for we find his name 
 signed to the parish accounts, to show that he had 
 looked through them, and found that they were all 
 right. And he worked hard, not only at printing 
 books, but also at writing them, or rather translat- 
 ing them either from the Latin or the French. The 
 number that he printed and published during these 
 
 1 Vol. i. p. III. 
 
 ^ There can still be found at Westminster a name which once 
 belonged to the old " Abbey." This is the " Sanctuary." I shall 
 have to say something more about this later on in this volume. 
 (See ch. x.) 
 
312 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 fourteen years was about eighty, and a quarter of 
 these he translated himself. It has been reckoned 
 that these translations of his contain in all about four 
 thousand five hundred pages, folio pages that is, and 
 so four times as big as the pages we commonly see. 
 We must remember that he did with his own hands a 
 great deal of the actual work of printing. A master- 
 printer now only sees that others do their work 
 properly, but Caxton actually " composed," i. e. put 
 the letters together into words, and " struck off" 
 copies from the type when it had been composed. 
 
 He had many great and powerful friends. King 
 Edward IV. gave him money; came, it is said, to see 
 his printing-office, and gave his patronage to two of 
 his books. The Duchess of Burgundy, whose servant 
 he had been at Bruges, also continued to be his 
 friend. Perhaps, when he came to England in 1480 
 on a visit to her brother the King, she may have 
 gone to Westminster to see Caxton. He dedicated 
 a book to King Richard III., and another to Henry 
 VII., and he presented the Story of ^neas to Prince 
 Arthur, King Henry's eldest son. This was in 1490, 
 when the Prince was four years old. 
 
 In 1490 Caxton seems to have lost his wife, for we 
 find that a certain " Mawde Caxton " was buried in 
 the churchyard of St, Margaret's. If this lady was 
 his wife, they had been married nine-and-twenty 
 
WILLIAM CAXTON, PRINTER, 3i3 
 
 years. In this year Caxton began to print a book 
 called Feats of Arms, but he stopped the work in 
 order to print another which has the title The Art to 
 Die Well. This is just what he would have been 
 likely to do if some one very dear to him died about 
 this time. He went on working up to the time of 
 his death. This seems to have taken place about the 
 end of the year 1491. 
 
 One Wynken de Worde, who was his chief assistant, 
 and succeeded him in his business, says of a book 
 published in 1492 with the title of Lives of the Fathers 
 that lived in the Desert, that it had been " translated 
 out of French into English by William Caxton of 
 Westminster, lately deceased, and finished on the 
 last day of his life." He was buried in the church- 
 yard of St. Margaret. Six shillings and eightpence 
 was paid for torches and sixpence for ringing the 
 bells. These are much higher fees than were com- 
 monly paid. He does not seem to have left much 
 besides his stock of books. Fifteen copies of one of 
 them he left to the parish church. These were sold 
 at different prices, varying from ds. Sd. to 5^". 8d. during 
 the next ten years. These prices would be equal to 
 about £^ to ;f 2 105. of our money. 
 
3r4 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE TWO PRINCES. 
 
 The last chapter was a pleasant change from the 
 tale of wars and, too often, of wicked deeds of which 
 history is for the most part made up. In this I must 
 go back to the old subject, for I have to tell a very 
 shocking story indeed. 
 
 King Edward was dead, a young man, as we should 
 now think him, for he was but forty-two ; but he had 
 wasted his strength in riotous living. He left two 
 sons, Edward, Prince of Wales, who was thirteen 
 years old, and Richard, Duke of York, who was nine, 
 and five daughters. Of the eldest of these five, Eliza- 
 beth by name, we shall hear again. Kings as young 
 as Edward, even younger, had come to the throne, 
 and kept it, for a time at least, in peace. The third 
 Henry was but nine ; the second Richard eleven ; the 
 third Edward only fifteen. But there was trouble in 
 store for the two boys, because their nearest kinsman, 
 Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the late King's brother, 
 had begun to think that he might win the kingdom 
 
THE TWO PRINCES. 31 5 
 
 for himself. His way had been cleared by the death 
 
 RICHARD III. 
 
 of the brother who stood next In age to King Edward 
 — George, Duke of Clarence. Whether Richard had 
 
3i6 STOHIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 had anything to do with Clarence's death I cannot 
 say. Clarence was a foolish, hot-headed man ; he 
 had quarrelled fiercely with the King, had been found 
 guilty of treason, and had been condemned to death. 
 How he died no one knows. A story has been told 
 of how he was allowed to choose his manner of death, 
 and that he chose to be drowned in a butt of 
 malmsey wine. But this seems to have been made 
 ijp long afterwards. That he was found dead in the 
 Tower is certain. It is probable that the King knew 
 how he came by his end, for no one was punished 
 for it. There is nothing to prove that Richard was 
 concerned in it. More we cannot say. That he had 
 something to do with the death of his nephews cannot 
 be doubted. 
 
 When his father died young Edward was at 
 Ludlow Castle, which was at that time the appointed 
 dwelling of the Princes of Wales. In the course of 
 a few days he set out for London, in charge of 
 his uncle. Lord Rivers. Meanwhile the Duke of 
 Gloucester, who was in the north at the time of his 
 brother's death, hurried back. He overtook the 
 young Prince at Stony Stratford on April 30, 
 arrested Lord Rivers, Lord Richard Grey, a son of 
 the Queen by her first marriage, and others, and 
 carried his nephew up to London. For a time all 
 seemed to go well. The Council acknowledged 
 
THE TWO PRINCES. 1^1 
 
 young Edward as King, and such of the chief men of 
 the kingdom as happened to be in London took the 
 oath of allegiance to him. Richard was named 
 Protector to carry on affairs of State as long as 
 the King was under age. The young King, who 
 had been at first entertained in the Bishop of 
 London's palace, was now lodged in the Tower, as 
 being more convenient. 
 
 And now it would seem Richard, not content with 
 the royal power, which he had as Protector, began to 
 plot for getting the crown itself. He felt certain that 
 the power would not long be his if the young King 
 lived. In two or three years the boy would be old 
 enough to act for himself, and then he would be 
 certain to prefer to have his mother's kinsfolk about 
 him as his advisers. Richard could count on a good 
 deal of support. He was very popular in the city of 
 London. Many of the old nobility, who hated the 
 Queen's relatives as upstarts, were ready to help him. 
 But one man, with whom he was on very friendly 
 terms, and on whose aid he reckoned, refused to 
 listen to his offers. This was William, Lord Hast- 
 ings. Richard at once resolved to destroy him. The 
 way he did it was very strange. 
 
 There was a meeting of the Council held in the 
 Tower. Richard came la.te to it, asked pardon for 
 being after his time, and talked about some trifling 
 
3i8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 matters, asking the Bishop of Ely, who was there, to 
 send for some strawberries out of the garden of his 
 London palace, which was in a street out of Holborn, 
 still called Ely Place. He then left the room, but 
 returned before very long, in great trouble as it seemed. 
 "What, my lords," he cried, "think ye should be done 
 to them who compass my death, seeing that I am near 
 in blood to the King and in charge of this realm ? " 
 The other members of the Council were too much 
 astonished to speak, but Lord Hastings said — " They 
 deserve to die as traitors, whosoever they be." Richard 
 then pulled up his sleeve and showed a withered arm, 
 caused doubtless by an illness in his childhood. Very 
 possibly it was not known to any but those who had 
 waited upon him. Evidently it -was hidden by his 
 sleeve, and he seems to have had the use of both arms, 
 for he was a skilful knight. " This," he cried, " has been 
 done by my brother's wife and others who have 
 worked with her. See how they have destroyed my 
 body by their witchcraft." " If they have done any 
 such thing," said Hastings, " they deserve to be sorely 
 punished." " Answerest thou me with ' ifs ' .? " cried 
 Richard, furious with rage ; " I tell thee they have 
 done it, and thou hast joined with them, as I will 
 prove upon thy body, thou traitor." As he spoke, he 
 smote with his fist upon the Council table, and a body 
 of armed men rushed in. He bade them seize Hast- 
 
THE TWO PRINCES. 319 
 
 ings, the Bishop of Ely, and others whom he knew to 
 be opposed to his plans. Hastings was hurried out 
 into one of the courts of the Tower and beheaded. 
 The others were put in prison. About the same time 
 Lord Rivers and some of his kinsfolk and friends were 
 executed. But worse things than these remained to 
 be done. 
 
 The Queen was in sanctuary at Westminster with 
 her younger son, the Duke of York, and her five 
 daughters. " Sanctuary " was a place, commonly in 
 the neighbourhood of a church, to which persons 
 guilty of offences against the law might fly. As long 
 as they remained in it they could not be touched.^ 
 She had fled thither as soon as she heard of Richard's 
 coming to London, and of how he had seized her 
 brother. Richard maintained that a child who had 
 committed no crime was not a fit person to take 
 sanctuary, and the Council agreed with him. Still 
 he did not like to take away the boy by force, and 
 thought it better, if he could, to persuade the Queen 
 to give him up. He sent, therefore, the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury to do this, and the Archbishop, who 
 seems to have believed that Richard meant no harm 
 to his nephew, argued the matter with the Queen. 
 At first she refused. She said that the child was 
 sick, and needed his mother's care. Then she hinted 
 
 1 The name of the " Sanctuary" at Westminster still remains. 
 
320 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 that the Duke had not much love for his nephew. 
 When the Archbishop declared that the boy had no 
 right in the Sanctuary, she replied that her lawyers 
 had advised her otherwise, and said plainly that she did 
 not think the Princes were safe in the hands of their 
 uncle, seeing that he would be King if they were to 
 die. The Archbishop declared that he would answer, 
 with soul and body, for their safety. On this the 
 Queen consented to give the young Duke up. She 
 bade him good-bye in much grief and fear, saying as 
 she kissed him, " God knoweth when we shall kiss 
 together again." The boy, who cried much on leav- 
 ing his mother and sisters, was taken by the Arch- 
 bishop to Richard, who pretended that he was very 
 glad to see him. Glad he was to have both him 
 and his brother in his power, for to have one with- 
 out the other would have been useless. The young 
 Duke was then sent to be with his brother in the 
 Tower. 
 
 This was on June i6. Six days afterwards a cer- 
 tain Dr. Shaw, who was Richard's chaplain, preached 
 a sermon at Paul's Cross, which it was hoped would 
 help his plans. The preacher declared that the late 
 King had been married to a certain Eleanor Butler 
 before he took Elizabeth Woodville to wife, and that 
 the two Princes were not his lawful children. As for 
 the son of the Duke of Clarence, he had lost his 
 
THE TWO PRINCES, 321 
 
 rights, because his father had been condemned for 
 treason. It was hoped that the people on hearing 
 this would cry out for King Richard ; but they were 
 too much surprised to say anything. Richard had to 
 try another plan. He sent the Duke of Buckingham, 
 who was himself a descendant of Edward III., to tell 
 the Mayor and citizens of London the same story 
 that Dr. Shaw had told in his sermon. At the end 
 of his speech a few persons, who, it is likely, had been 
 hired to do it, threw up their caps and shouted, 
 "Long live King Richard III.!" The next day 
 Parliament met. It had been called to witness 
 the coronation of Edward, but it was terrified into 
 acknowledging his usurping uncle. The Duke of 
 Buckingham led a deputation of the two Houses 
 to Richard. They begged him to take the crown. 
 At first he refused. He would sooner, he said, act 
 as Protector for his nephew till the boy should be 
 of age to reign himself. " Nay," said Buckingham, 
 *' England will not obey a base-born boy." Then 
 Richard pretended to yield. He said that he con- 
 sented to be King of England and France. England 
 he would rule, France he would conquer. He and 
 his wife Anne, daughter of the King-maker, were 
 crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury on July 5, 
 nearly three months after the death of King Edward. 
 And what about the two young Princes, for whose 
 
322 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 safety the Archbishop had pledged his body and 
 soul ? No man knew for certain, but few doubted 
 that Richard had ordered them to be put out of the 
 way. They were never heard of again, though^ as we 
 shall soon see, some people believed, or at least 
 pretended, that one of them escaped. Some years 
 afterwards a confession was made by two of the 
 persons concerned in the murder, and published by 
 King Henry VII. There were some strange things 
 in this story, and it was of course to Henry's interest 
 to have it made quite certain that the Princes were 
 dead. But on the whole we may be satisfied that the 
 story was true. Richard, it seems, sent a certain 
 Green to Sir Robert Brackenbury, who was Constable 
 of the Tower, with a command that he was to put the 
 Princes to death. Brackenbury refused to commit 
 the crime. Then Richard gave a warrant to Bracken- 
 bury that he was to give up the keys of the Tower 
 for one night to a Sir James Tyrrell. Tyrrell 
 engaged the help of Miles Forest, one of the men 
 that waited on the Princes, and of a groom of his 
 own, Dighton by name. These two ruffians murdered 
 the lads by smothering them with pillows, and when 
 they had done the deed called Tyrrell to see the 
 dead bodies. Nearly two hundred years afterwards 
 some workmen found under a staircase a great chest 
 in which was a quantity of bones. These were 
 
BOS WORTH FIELD. 323 
 
 said by persons skilled in such matters to be the 
 
 bones of boys who were of the same age as the 
 Princes. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 BOSWORTH FIELD. 
 
 Richard was not happy on the throne which he 
 had bought at so dreadful a price. He made a 
 progress through England to show himself to his new 
 subjects, whom he tried to attract by the splendid 
 show which he made. At York, to please the North- 
 erners, he had the crown put upon his head a second 
 time by the Archbishop of York, who rules what is 
 called the Northern Province. But the people mur- 
 mured against him. They could not forgive the 
 crime which by this time few doubted that he had 
 committed. When the crown was again put upon 
 his head, they said that this was done because the 
 poor lads had been murdered since his first crowning, 
 and he now felt himself to be really King, 
 
 And then he knew that there were those who were 
 ready to do more than murmur. Chief of these was 
 the Duke of Buckingham. This man had been ready 
 
324 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 enough to help in pulling down the kindred of the 
 Woodvilles, whom the late King had so much favoured, 
 but he was not prepared for all that Richard seemed 
 ready to do. He had carried the King's train at the 
 coronation at Westminster, but he had done this only 
 under compulsion. He had been unwilling to come 
 to the ceremony, and had sent word to Richard that 
 he was sick. When the King replied that if he was 
 not well enough to walk he should be carried, he saw 
 that there was no help for it, and came. After the 
 coronation he left London with the King, and rode 
 with him as far as Gloucester. There they parted, 
 Richard going on to the north, the Duke journeying 
 towards Wales. He was already thinking of turning 
 against his master. 
 
 On his way he met Margaret, Countess of Richmond, 
 widow of the eldest son of Owen Tudor and Queen 
 Katharine, and heiress of the Beauforts. The Countess 
 Margaret had a son Henry, who seemed the most 
 likely person to set up against Richard. He had, 
 it is true, no real claim to the crown, but then 
 he might marry Elizabeth, King Edward's eldest 
 daughter, and would have his wife's right to depend 
 upon. This, we shall see afterwards, he actually did. 
 
 Another enemy of Richard's with whom the Duke 
 of Buckingham took counsel was that Bishop of Ely 
 of whom I wrote something in the last chapter. The 
 
BOS WORTH FIELD. 
 
 325 
 
 Duke had him in his cliarge, having been told to find 
 a prison for him in Wales. Richard would willingly 
 have put him to death, but to kill a bishop without 
 any very grave cause, and no such cause could be 
 found against the Bishop of Ely, would have been a 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF THE KING. 
 
 very dangerous thing. The Duke had had some 
 thoughts of claiming the throne for himself, for he 
 too, as has been said, was of the blood royal.^ But 
 
 1 Edward III.'s youngest son, Thomas of Woodstock, was 
 created Earl of Buckingham. He had a son Humphrey who 
 became earl, and died without children, and a daughter. This 
 daughter was married to the Earl of Stafford. Their son 
 inherited the earldom of Buckingham, and this son's son was 
 the Duke of Buckingham of whom I am now writing. 
 
326 STOJ^IES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR Y. 
 
 then he would not be able to win over to himself 
 those who still held by the House of Lancaster. And 
 as he had already had a wife (a sister of Edward IV.'s 
 Queen) he could not strengthen his claim, as Henry 
 could, by marrying Elizabeth of York. On the whole, 
 therefore, he was inclined to favour Henry. Still he 
 hesitated, till at last the Bishop of Ely, who was 
 afraid that his plans might be betrayed to King 
 Richard, found an opportunity of escaping, and made 
 his way to France. 
 
 Richard by this time had heard that some plot 
 was being hatched against him. He sent a message 
 to Buckingham, commanding him to come to London. 
 The Duke had now no choice. To obey was to 
 throw away his life, for Richard, he was sure, knew 
 enough to condemn him. He had therefore openly 
 to take up arms, though he was very far from being 
 ready. He sent messengers to the two Tudors, 
 Henry and his uncle Jasper, urging them to come 
 over at once to England with all the men that they 
 could collect and join him. He himself marched 
 towards England. But everything went against him. 
 The people with whom he wanted to make friends 
 would not trust him. He found the roads guarded 
 and the bridges broken down. When he would have 
 crossed the Severn to join a force that had been 
 raised in Devonshire, that river rose in such a flood 
 
BOS WORTH FIELD. 327 
 
 — long afterwards remembered as '' Buckingham's 
 Flood "—that he had to give up the idea. He had 
 got as far as Gloucester, but he had to fall back into 
 Herefordshire. Henry Tudor had come with a small 
 fleet to the coast of Devonshire, but finding no one 
 to welcome him, had sailed back to France. Bucking- 
 ham's insurrection had altogether failed. He sought 
 shelter with an old friend at Shrewsbury. But the 
 friend, alarmed for his own life, or tempted, it may 
 be, by the reward of ^^4000 which the King had 
 offered for Buckingham's capture, betrayed him. He 
 was taken in a wood, disguised in poor clothing, and 
 carried to Salisbury, where the King then was. He 
 asked leave to plead his cause, but Richard would not 
 hear or see him, and he was beheaded. 
 
 He had sent away his little son to another friend, 
 who kept his faith better. The boy was taken^ dressed 
 up as a little girl, from one place to another, and at 
 last lodged with a widow lady at Hereford, who kept 
 him safely till the tyrant was dead. 
 
 Buckingham's rebellion happened in the late autumn 
 of 1483. In the April of the next year, on the very 
 day on which Edward IV. had died, Richard lost 
 his only son, Edward, Prince of Wales, after a very 
 short illness. Less than a year afterwards his wife, 
 Anne, daughter of the King-maker, died, after as 
 unhappy a life as woman ever had. There was some 
 
328 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 talk after her death of the King marr3/ing his own 
 niece EHzabeth. The Pope of Rome had granted 
 leave — or dispensation, as it was called — for such 
 marriages to take place. But the King denied that 
 he had any such intention. He named the Earl of 
 Warwick, son of his brother, the Duke of Clarence, 
 heir to the throne, and when it became clear that the 
 poor lad was of weak mind, another nephew, the son 
 of his sister Elizabeth and her husband, John de la 
 Pole, who had the title of Earl of Lincoln. 
 
 But I must make haste and finish my story. On 
 August II, 1485, Henry of Richmond landed at 
 Milford Haven. He did not bring with him, as he 
 had once hoped to do, some French soldiers. He 
 came in a single ship with a few nobles of the 
 Lancastrian party, chief of whom was John de Vere, 
 Earl of Oxford, and some of those of the other party 
 who did not like the doings of King Richard. The 
 Welsh received him with great joy, not because he 
 had any right to the crown, for this he had not, but 
 because he was a countryman of their own, and they 
 hoped for his favour if he should come to be King. 
 Richard had not at first thought that the danger was 
 serious, but when he saw that Henry had many friends 
 in England, and especially when he found that Sir 
 William Stanley, who was very powerful in North 
 Wales, made an excuse for not joining him, he began 
 
BOS WORTH FIELD. 329 
 
 to bestir himself. He marched northward to Leicester, 
 which he reached on August 20. The next day he 
 went on towards Bosworth. The battle was fought 
 on a great plain near that town, called Bosworth 
 Field, otherwise Redmoor. Henry, who had been 
 joined by the Talbots and other great families in the 
 Midlands, had taken up his position on the east of 
 this plain. He had not half as many men as Richard, 
 but he trusted that Stanley, who was close at hand 
 with a large force, and held himself ready to join 
 either party, would be on his side. He had hopes, 
 too, that other friends of the King would leave him 
 when the battle once began. 
 
 Shakespeare has described how Richard spent the 
 night before the battle, seeming to see in his dreams 
 the ghosts of those whom he had slain. King Henry, 
 the two young Princes, and Buckingham, his last 
 victim, among them, But he did not forget his duty 
 as a general. It is said that, making the round of the 
 camp at midnight, he found a sentinel asleep at his 
 post and killed him. The next morning he set his 
 line of battle in order, with his archers in the middle, 
 and near them a number of cannon. He was much 
 stronger than his adversary, and if only his followers 
 had been faithful to him, could hardly have failed to 
 win the battle. Bad man as he was, he was a good 
 general and a brave warrior. He put on the armour 
 
330 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 which he had worn at Tewkesbury, the last great 
 
 battle which had settled his family on the throne. 
 
 Round his helmet he wore, as Henry V. had done at 
 
 Agincourt, a crown of gold. 
 
 Henry made the first movement. The Earl of 
 
 Oxford charged that part of the line where the Duke 
 
 of Norfolk was in command. And now the Duke 
 
 found out how true was the warning which, as the 
 
 story goes, he had received the night before — 
 
 "Jockey of Norfolk, be not so bold, 
 For Dickon thy master is bought and sold." 
 
 It was so ; the Duke of Northumberland — the Percies, 
 it will be remembered, were old friends of the House 
 of Lancaster — who was in command of the second line, 
 would not move forward to help the first. Richard 
 himself now charged, bent especially on slaying the 
 Earl of Richmond himself If his great rival could be 
 put out of the way, all might be well. But now the 
 Stanleys, who had up to this time stood apart, saw that 
 it was time to act. They advanced with their force of 
 three thousand men, and Richard's followers saw that 
 they had changed sides and were going to attack them. 
 One of them pointed out to the King what was about 
 to happen, and bade him mount his horse and fly. 
 If he saved himself that day, he might live to fight 
 again. Richard refused to escape. " Not a foot will 
 I fly so long as I live. I will die King of England," 
 
BOS WORTH FIELD. 33 1 
 
 he said. Furiously did he fight till he was overborne 
 by numbers, and fell dead to the ground. Among 
 his followers that perished with him was the Bracken- 
 bury that had been Constable of the Tower when 
 the young Princes came by their end. For a time 
 the pursuit was hot, and as many as a thousand men 
 are said to have been slain in it. But Henry did not 
 forget that he was now King of England, and called 
 back his soldiers as soon as he could from the slaughter 
 of their countrymen. The crown that Richard had 
 worn was found hanging on a hawthorn bush. A 
 knight brought it to Henry where he stood with 
 Lord Oxford and others of his party. Lord Stanley 
 set it on his head, and the army all over the field of 
 battle shouted, " God save King Harry ! " 
 
 Richard's body was found covered with wounds. 
 It was thrown across a horse, and carried into 
 Leicester, where it was buried by the sisters of a 
 nunnery there. So ended the long War of the 
 Roses. 
 
 A curious story is told, which may be taken to 
 show how the ill-gotten gold of the usurping King 
 brought a curse with it long afterwards. He had 
 slept at an inn in Leicester, and had brought his 
 bedstead with him. More than a hundred years 
 afterwards it was found that this bedstead had a 
 double bottom, and that this was filled with gold 
 
332 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 coins. The landlady of the inn was murdered 
 by her servants, who thus got possession of the 
 treasure. 
 
 CHAPTER XI I. 
 
 TRUE OR FALSE? 
 
 I HAVE to tell in this chapter two strange stories, 
 so strange that we cannot be sure that we know the 
 truth about them even now. 
 
 King Henry was crowned by the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury on November 7 in the same year in 
 which he had conquered Richard ; about two months 
 afterwards he married Elizabeth of York, and in the 
 September of i486 he had a son born to him. The 
 son was christened by a name dear to the Welshmen 
 who had fought so bravely for him at Bos worth — 
 Arthur. 
 
 But now a new kind of trouble began. News was 
 brought to London that a lad who claimed to be 
 Earl of Warwick had landed in Ireland in charge of 
 a certain priest of Oxford. Soon it was reported that 
 he had been proclaimed King at Dublin, under the 
 title of Edward VI. The real Earl of Warwick was 
 
TRUE OR FALSE? 
 
 333 
 
 in the Tower. Henry brought him out, and had him 
 taken through London, where any one that chose 
 might speak to him. As he had been at Court in 
 King Richard's time, there must have been many who 
 knew him. It seems clear that the boy in Ireland 
 was not what he pretended to be. Indeed, it was 
 
 MARRIAGE OF HENRY VII. WITH ELIZABETH. 
 
 afterwards found out that he was one Lambert 
 Simnel, son of a Thomas Simnel, who was a carpenter. 
 He was tall and handsome, and had been taught to 
 tell the story of how he had escaped from the Tower, 
 and to behave as a Prince should. Indeed, he was 
 more like a Prince than the poor boy whom Henry 
 
334 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 kept in the Tower. But it was easy to prove that he 
 was not the Earl of Warwick ; and even if he had 
 been, he had not the least right to be King of England. 
 Yet a powerful nobleman, the Earl of Lincoln, took 
 up his cause. He went over to Burgundy, where his 
 aunt, Edward IV.'s sister, was Duchess, enlisted by 
 her help two thousand soldiers under a certain soldier 
 of fortune (a "soldier of fortune" was a man who 
 would fight for any prince or city that was willing to 
 pay him), Martin Schwarz by name, and then landed 
 in Ireland. He caused "Edward VI." to be crowned, 
 and then crossed over to England, taking with him as 
 many Irish as he could collect and Martin Swartz's 
 soldiers. Some English friends of the House of York 
 joined him. Henry meanwhile had marched from 
 London. The two armies met at Stoke-on-Trent ; 
 Lord Lincoln, with Martin Swartz and his chief Irish 
 allies, fell on the field of battle. One of the few 
 leaders that escaped was Lord Lovel. He was not 
 killed nor taken prisoner, but he was not heard of 
 again. Two hundred years afterwards a secret cham- 
 ber was found in the house of Minster Lovel (where 
 the Lords of Lovel lived), and in it the skeleton of a 
 man seated at a table. The pretended king, who was 
 with the army, was taken prisoner. He confessed 
 that he had told a false story. The King pardoned 
 him, and gave him a place in the royal kitchen. 
 
TRUE OR FALSE 1 335 
 
 Afterwards he was promoted. " Lambert is still 
 alive," says a chronicler who wrote in the latter part 
 of Henry's reign, "and has been made Keeper of 
 the Hawks, after turning the spit for a while in the 
 royal kitchen." 
 
 ' A few years afterwards Henry had to meet a more 
 serious danger of the same kind. A handsome young 
 man, with very good manners, landed from a Portu- 
 guese ship at Cork. He gave out that he was 
 Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the two 
 Princes said to have been murdered by Richard HI., 
 and that he had escaped from the Tower. We do not 
 know any more of his story, how he had escaped, and 
 where he had been living me-anwhile. However, 
 many of the citizens of Cork were satisfied that he 
 was what he claimed to be, and some of the Irish 
 nobles also acknowledged him. Before long the 
 King of France invited him to visit him. The young 
 man went, and was well received. ^ A bodyguard was 
 given him, and a number of English exiles offered him 
 their services. He did not, however, stop long in 
 France. When Henry consented to sign a treaty 
 about which he had been making some difficulties, the 
 King commanded the young man at once to leave the 
 country. He had been only making use of him 
 to hasten the business which he wanted to get 
 finished. 
 
336 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The Pretender, as we may call him, now went to 
 Burgundy, to the same Duchess who had shown 
 herself so ready to the friends of the false Earl 
 of Warwick. She received him in an affectionate 
 way, declaring that she was sure of his being really 
 her nephew. For some time he was content to stay 
 safely where he was. But the people of the country 
 had very good reason to be dissatisfied. The Flemish 
 merchants — Flanders, i. e. the country now known as 
 Holland and Belgium, was part of the possessions of 
 the Duke of Burgundy — lost a great part of their 
 trade, for Henry, angry that a man who claimed his 
 kingdom was so well received in Burgundy, would not 
 allow them to have dealings with England. Accord- 
 ingly the Pretender felt that he must do something. 
 In 1495 he made an attempt to land at Deal, 
 but was beaten back. He then went to Ireland, and 
 with the help of some friends of the House of 
 York, besieged Waterford. But the Lord Deputy who 
 ruled Ireland in the name of the King's second son, 
 Henry, Duke of York,^ got together some soldiers, 
 and put him and his followers to flight. He was 
 glad to get back to his friend the Duchess of 
 Burgundy. 
 
 But he was not to be allowed to stop long with her. 
 A treaty was made between Henry and the Duke of 
 
 ^ Afterwards Henry VIII., then four years old. 
 
TRUE OR FALSE? 337 
 
 Burgundy, and one of the points in it was that neither 
 Prince should allow an enemy of the other to remain 
 within his dominions. The Pretender had now to 
 leave, but he found a friend in Scotland, where King 
 James acknowledged him to be the son of Edward IV., 
 and gave him in marriage a noble Scotch lady, a 
 cousin of his own, Lady Catherine Gordon. Twice 
 the Scottish King helped to invade England. There 
 were always plenty of people on the Borders and 
 elsewhere who were ready to take part in an invasion 
 of England. But these expeditions did him no kind 
 of good, and when the English army invaded Scotland 
 in turn, the King and his people grew tired of the 
 whole matter. At last a regular peace was concluded 
 between the two countries by the mediation of the 
 Spanish ambassador. After that the Pretender had 
 to go. He first went to Ireland, but the nobles who 
 had helped him before would have nothing more to 
 do with him. Then he sailed to Cornwall. The 
 Cornishmen, who had already rebelled against some 
 new taxes which the King had demanded from them, 
 joined him in considerable numbers, and he marched 
 to Exeter, which city he in vain tried to take. Then 
 he moved on to Taunton. But when the King's 
 
 o 
 
 army approached he lost heart, and taking horse, rode 
 with sixty companions to Beaulieu Abbey in Hamp- 
 shire. There he took sanctuary. Growing weary of 
 
338 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 being shut up in this place, and being promised his 
 life, he came out and threw himself on the King's 
 mercy. Henry took him up to London, and made 
 him ride in his train through the city. After this 
 he was allowed to live within the precincts ^ of the 
 Palace of Westminster, not kept in custody, but 
 closely watched. From time to time he was ques- 
 tioned about his past history. After six months he 
 managed to escape, but finding that he could not get 
 away from England, gave himself up to the Prior of 
 the monastery of Shene (near Richmond). The King 
 again spared his life, but put him for a day in the 
 stocks at Cheapside. He was also obliged to make 
 a confession of his real name and birth in front of 
 Westminster Hall, and again at Cheapside. This 
 done, he was sent to the Tower. 
 
 In the Tower he made friends with the young Earl, 
 of Warwick, and contrived — so at least it was said — 
 another plot. Four of the warders of the Tower were 
 to murder the Governor, and then carry the Pretender 
 and the Earl to some safe place outside England, 
 where the one was to be proclaimed as Richard IV., 
 while the other was to call to arms the friends of his 
 father, the Duke of Clarence, and his grandfather the 
 King-maker. This exhausted King Henry's patience. 
 
 1 The "precincts" would include a considerable space of 
 ground with some houses. 
 
TRUE OR FALSE? 339 
 
 The Pretender was tried, not for his share in this 
 last plot, but for having made war upon the King. Of 
 course he was found guilty. A few days afterwards, 
 having declared on the word of a dying man that his 
 confession was true, he was executed. Even the poor 
 young Earl of Warwick was put to death ; he pleaded 
 guilty to a charge of treason, and was beheaded on 
 Tower Hill. 
 
 And now who was this man whom I have called 
 the "Pretender"? According to his own confession 
 he was the son of a Jew of the town of Tournay, who 
 settled for a time in London, and then returned 
 to Tournay ; his real name was Warbeck, Perkin 
 being shortened from Peterkin, or " Little Peter.' 
 The Duchess of Burgundy had seen how like he was 
 to Edward IV., and being always on the look-out for 
 ways of doing harm to Henry VIL, had contrived the 
 plot. But there are some very strange things about 
 the story. The young man was not in the least like 
 what you would expect him to be if it were true. He 
 was very handsome, had noble manners, and a way of 
 winning the hearts of all with whom he had to do. And 
 then, though we can understand why the Duchess of 
 Burgundy should have taken up his cause, it is hard to 
 see why James of Scotland did so. Altogether the 
 matter must be left in doubt, though it is not at all 
 likely that he was really Richard, Duke of York. 
 
340 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Perhaps he was a son of Edward IV., born before 
 his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. 
 
 Note. — When the Pretender landed in Cornwall he put his 
 wife, Lady Catharine, in the Castle of Michael's Mount (near 
 Penzance). She surrendered to Henry, who was kind to her, and 
 made her a lady-in-waiting to his wife. On account of her 
 beauty she was called " The White Rose, " a name which the 
 Duchess of Burgundy had once given to her husband. After 
 his death she married a certain Sir Matthew Craddock. Their 
 daughter married William Herbert, first Earl of Pembroke. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FLODDEN FIELD. 
 
 I HAVE said that peace was made between England 
 and Scotland by the help of the Spanish ambassador. 
 To give it a better chance of lasting, King James 
 asked the English King to give him his daughter 
 Margaret in marriage. For some time he had been 
 unwilling to do so, for he loved a lady in his own 
 country. When she died — poisoned, it is said, along 
 with her three sisters by an enemy of her family — he 
 delayed no longer. The two were betrothed, but as 
 Margaret was very young — she was born in 1489 — 
 
FLO D DEN FIELD. 
 
 341 
 
 the marriage did not take place till August 1503, and 
 she was then barely fourteen. During the rest of Henry 
 
 A KNIGHT. 
 
 VII.'s reign the peace lasted, though there was always 
 more or less trouble on the Border, and other causes 
 of complaint 'were arising from time to time. The 
 
342 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 most serious of these may be told, for it is an interest- 
 ing story. 
 
 There was a certain Andrew Barton, the most famous 
 of the British seamen of the time. Barton had had 
 the honour of commanding the fleet which had carried 
 the Pretender when he was sent away from Scotland, 
 but he was in fact little more than a pirate. Many 
 years before certain Portuguese had plundered a 
 ship belonging to John Barton, Andrew's father, 
 and in 1506, though it had happened so long ago. 
 King James made this an excuse for giving Andrew 
 and his two brothers leave to seize and plunder 
 such Portuguese ships as they could lay hold of. 
 But Portuguese ships were not always to be found ; 
 now and then the brothers Barton would seize an 
 English merchantman, if they suspected it had 
 Portuguese goods on board, and sometimes even 
 without this reason. The English Government 
 complained, but without effect. At last the King 
 — Henry VII. had by this time been succeeded by 
 his son, Henry VIII. — proclaimed the Bartons to be 
 pirates, and gave his Admiral, Sir Edward Howard, 
 a son of the Earl of Surrey, leave to attack them. 
 In 15 10 Sir Edward, with the help of his brother 
 Sir Thomas, took two of their ships in the Downs, 
 and Andrew Barton was killed in the fight. King 
 James demanded satisfaction for his d'eath, and, as 
 
FLO D DEN FIELD. 343 
 
 may be supposed, was but ill pleased when Henry 
 replied that the death of a pirate was not a matter 
 with which kings should concern themselves. 
 
 Two years afterwards the Scottish King determined 
 to make war upon England, all the more readily 
 because Henry had invaded France, and had, of 
 course, taken the greater part of his English soldiers 
 with him. He went against the advice of his wisest 
 counsellors, and his wife, Queen Margaret, prayed 
 him with many tears to give up his purpose. It was 
 said too that he had other warnings : that St. Andrew, 
 the patron saint of Scotland, appeared to him in the 
 shape of an old man, and told him that the war would 
 end in disaster ; and that a voice was heard calling the 
 King, and the nobles who were urging him on to make 
 war, to answer for their deed before God.^ Still he 
 persisted in going, and took with him — a war with 
 England was always popular in Scotland — the very 
 largest army that had ever been gathered in the country. 
 
 ^ " ' Prince, prelate, potentate, and peer, 
 
 Whose names I now shall call, 
 Scottish, or foreigner, give ear ; 
 Subjects of him who sent me here, 
 At his tribunal to appear, 
 
 I summon one and all.' 
 * * -Js^ -^ * 
 
 Then thundered forth a roll of names : 
 The first was thine, unhappy James ! 
 
 Then all thy nobles came." 
 
344 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 On August 22, King James with his army crossed 
 the Border. If he had marched on at once, he might 
 have done the enemy a vast amount of damage, for 
 the Earl of Surrey, who was in command of the 
 EngHsh troops, was not strong enough to meet him. 
 But he wasted the time in the most foolish way, and 
 so lost his chance. The weather grew wet and stormy ; 
 the stock of food failed, and a great part of the army 
 left him to go home, for armies could not be kept 
 together in those days as well as they can now. Lord 
 Surrey sent a herald challenging King James to fight 
 on a certain day which he named, Friday, September 9. 
 Of course there was no reason why James should wait 
 so long; indeed there was excellent reason why he 
 should not, namely, that his army was growing weaker, 
 and Lord Surrey's growing stronger, every day. The 
 Earl of Angus, who was the most famous soldier in 
 the army, begged him not to accept the challenge, but 
 only got the insulting answer that if he was afraid he 
 might go home. 
 
 The Scottish army was posted, in a strong place, 
 where Lord Surrey did not like to attack it. What 
 he did therefore was to try to draw it away. By the 
 advice, it is said, of his son, Sir Thomas Howard,— 
 now Lord High Admiral of England in the place of 
 his brother Edward, who had been killed at Brest 
 in an attempt to destroy the French fleet, — he 
 
FLO D DEN FIELD. 345 
 
 marched northward, and so got between the Scottish 
 King and his country. James might either have 
 stayed where he was, in which case Lord Surrey 
 would have been bound to attack him, or he might 
 have fallen upon the English army while it was cross- 
 ing a river which was in its line of march. He did 
 neither, but moved from the high ground where he 
 had been encamped — Flodden Edge it was called — to 
 a place called Brankston, which was somewhat lower 
 down. 
 
 At foyr in the afternoon the battle began. Both 
 sides had cannon, but those of the English were the 
 better served of the two, and did so much execution 
 among the enemy that these lost no time in coming 
 to close quarters. At first it seemed as if they were 
 going to win the day. The men of the Border, sturdy 
 soldiers who had been used to war ever since they 
 could ride a horse, fell on the right of the English 
 line, where yet another Howard, Sir Edmund, younger 
 brother of the Admiral, was in command. Sir 
 Edmund's troops came from Cheshire ; they were 
 used to be led by a Stanley rather than by a Howard, 
 and they were not accustomed to Border ways of fight- 
 ing. Their line was driven back and broken, and 
 though Lord Dacre came up to their help with the 
 English cavalry, and the Admiral, who was in command 
 of the right centre, also sent them some support, they 
 
346 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 never quite recovered their ground. On the left of the 
 English line things went very differently. Here Sir 
 Edward Stanley's archers threw the Highlanders into 
 confusion with their showers of arrows. The moun- 
 taineers charged in vain, they could not break the line, 
 and bearing as they did no armour but a shield, they 
 were easily cut down by the English men-at-arms. 
 Meanwhile the Admiral had advanced with his main 
 force, and had beaten back, though not without a 
 fierce struggle, the divisions opposed to him. This 
 done, he turned to attack the Scottish King himself 
 where he stood in the centre, throwing himself on 
 one flank, while Stanley attacked the other, and 
 Lord Surrey came on in front. The Borderers, who 
 might have come to James's help, are said to have 
 refused to move. They had done their part, they 
 said, and would do no more. The King, with a 
 splendid courage, stood firm in his place, and would 
 neither fly nor yield. What followed may best be told 
 in Sir Walter Scott's noble words — 
 
 " But yet, though thick the shafts as snow, 
 Though charging knights like whirlwinds go, 
 Though bill-men ply the ghastly bow. 
 
 Unbroken was the ring ; 
 The stubborn spear-men still made good 
 Their dark impenetrable wood, 
 Each stepping where his comrade stood, 
 
 The instant that he fell. 
 
THE GREAT CARDINAL. 347 
 
 No thought was there of dastard flight ; 
 Linked in the serried phalanx tight, 
 Groom fought hke noble, squire like knight. 
 
 As fearlessly and well ; 
 Till utter darkness closed her wing, 
 O'er their thin host and wounded King." 
 
 The battle still went on till the night fell. Then 
 Surrey drew off his men, hardly yet knowing what 
 had happened. The King was lying dead, his head 
 cloven by a bill-hook, and round him were hundreds 
 of the best born in all Scotland. There was not a 
 noble family in all the land but lost one or more of 
 its sons. The survivors silently left the place where 
 they had made so gallant a stand. The Scottish army 
 had ceased to be. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE GREAT CARDINAL. 
 
 In the first years of the sixteenth century, every 
 one that knew about such things would have said 
 that there was no man more likely to rise to high 
 place in the Church than Thomas Wolsey. He was, 
 it is true, but of humble birth ; but this, though it 
 
348 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 would have hindered him if he had wished to be a 
 soldier, did not matter to a Churchman. He was sent 
 to Magdalen College, Oxford,. and did very well, taking 
 his degree so soon— he was but fifteen — that he was 
 known as the ''Boy Bachelor." He remained at 
 Oxford for some fourteen years in all — he was born 
 in 147 1. When he left it he soon became a very 
 important person. Bishop Fox of Winchester, who 
 was one of the King's chief advisers, employed him, 
 both at home and abroad. If Henry VH. was pleased 
 with his shrewdness and habits of business, so Henry 
 Vni. found him always a lively companion, ready to 
 join in his amusements, and not without learning, for 
 which Henry had a certain taste. The old King made 
 him Dean of Lincoln ; the young one seemed never 
 to be satisfied with heaping gifts and honours upon 
 him. In 15 14 he was made Bishop of Lincoln, and 
 in the course of the same year Archbishop of York ; 
 fourteen years later, when Bishop Fox died, he was 
 allowed to become Bishop of Winchester also. At 
 the same time he was allowed to hold numbers of 
 livings. These he never visited, and he had so much 
 employment at Court and abroad that he seldom 
 went near the dioceses which he was supposed to 
 govern. Even this was not all. Certain bishoprics 
 were in the hands of foreigners. As they resided 
 abroad, their revenues had to be collected for them. 
 
THE GREAT CARDINAL. 
 
 349 
 
 This was managed by Wolsey, or rather by people 
 whom he employed. For a time he had also a great 
 share in the revenues of St. Alban's Abbey. Alto- 
 gether he was the richest person in England, the 
 King only excepted. We may even doubt whether 
 the King himself had as great a command of money. 
 
 RETINUE OF A GREAT MAN. 
 
 In 15 15 the Pope made him a Cardinal,^ and in the 
 same year he became Lord Chancellor. Finally he 
 became the Pope's Legate in England, that is, the 
 
 1 The College of Cardinals consisted of great Churchmen 
 chosen from all countries. They are supposed to be the Pope's 
 counsellors, and when the Pope dies, it is they who have to 
 choose his successor. 
 
3SO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 person who ruled the Church there for him. This last 
 appointment made him superior to the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury himself. 
 
 There was both good and bad in the use which 
 Wolsey made of all these riches and honours. He 
 wanted to do something great for learning, and 
 accordingly he set about founding a college at 
 Oxford. He was allowed to take for its use the 
 property that had been given to certain other institu- 
 tions, and he also gave large sums of money out of 
 his own purse. If he had been able to carry out his 
 plans, the college, which was to have been called 
 "Cardinal" or "York College," would have been the 
 most splendid in Europe. As it is, Christ Church, 
 for that is the name which it actually received, is a 
 very noble place, and though Henry VHI. is called 
 its founder, that title should properly be given to 
 Wolsey. He also founded a grammar-school in his 
 native town, and had other great schemes, which he 
 would certainly have carried out if he had remained 
 in power. 
 
 And then he was really anxious to improve the 
 state of things in the Church of England. Many of 
 the parish clergymen were quite unfit for their offices, 
 and many of those who lived under a religious 
 rule in the monasteries were even worse. Wolsey 
 was really anxious to make them better, though 
 
THE GREAT CARDINAL. 351 
 
 unfortunately he did not go the best way of setting 
 about it. He did not show a good example in his 
 own life; and there was certainly no man who more 
 neglected his duties, seeing that he had more to do 
 than ten men could possibly have performed. 
 
 Then the show and display which Wolsey kept up 
 were beyond all bounds of reason. He had such a 
 train of followers and servants as was not to be seen 
 in any house in the land, scarcely in the King's 
 palace itself Even the persons who waited on him 
 at table were of noble birth. All this splendour 
 would in any case have caused much envy and 
 dislike. But these were greatly increased when 
 people remembered that this great man was of 
 humble birth. Had he been of royal descent, much 
 might have been excused which could not be par- 
 doned in the "butcher's dog," as his enemies loved to 
 call him. 
 
 Much might be written about the cause of his fall, 
 but to tell the story at length would not be suited to 
 this book, and I shall put it very shortly. The King 
 had married the widow of his elder brother Arthur. 
 This was of course against law, but the Pope had 
 given leave. It was the doing of the old King, who 
 was very fond of money, and was unwilling to give 
 back the dowry of 50,000 gold crowns which the 
 Princess Katharine had broue^ht with her. And now 
 
352 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Henry was troubled in conscience, and doubted 
 whether the marriage, even with the Pope's leave, 
 had been lawful. And then he had seen some one 
 else whom he would have been glad to make his 
 Queen. This was a certain Anne Boleyn, daughter 
 of a Norfolk knight, whose wife was a daughter of 
 the Duke of Norfolk. Wolsey had at first been 
 anxious that the marriage should be pronounced null, 
 for he wished the King to marry a French Princess. 
 But he found that it could not be managed. The 
 Pope was unwilling or unable to undo what another 
 Pope had done^ and also did not wish to offend the 
 Emperor Charles, who, it should be said, was Queen 
 Katharine's nephew, and was of course very angry at 
 the way in which Henry was treating her. So Wolsey 
 began to hang back. The King was furious at being 
 disappointed ; Anne Boleyn hated the man who 
 seemed to hinder her chance of being Queen. 
 
 It was in 1529 that the end came. At the begin- 
 ning of November, Wolsey, as Lord Chancellor, 
 opened the Courts of Law in the usual way. The 
 next day two great nobles came to him with the 
 King's orders that he was to give up the Great Seal,^ 
 and was to go to a house at Esher, which belonged 
 
 1 The Great Seal of the Kingdom, with which the most 
 important documents are signed. It is kept by the Lord 
 Chancellor. 
 
THE GREAT CARDINAL. 353 
 
 to the Bishops of Winchester. This was a kind of 
 banishment. He went, and waited. Pailiament, 
 which had not met for seven years, had been called 
 together, and it ordered him to be tried for having 
 taken office from the Pope without the King's leave. 
 The charge was not true ; the King had not only 
 given him leave, but had been very desirous that 
 he should have it. This leave Wolsey had under 
 Henry's own hand and seal. Yet he would not bring 
 this forward, but pleaded guilty. The fact was that 
 Henry again and again sent kind messages to him, 
 assuring him that it was not intended to do him any 
 harm, and that all would come right in the end. 
 And he believed him, though he must have known 
 the text, " Put not your trust in princes." The truth 
 was that Henry had kind thoughts about his old 
 companion, but let himself be turned by those about 
 him who hated Wolsey, chief of all, by Anne Boleyn. 
 If Wolsey could have seen the King, the end might 
 have been different ; but this was never permitted. 
 As the Cardinal had pleaded guilty, sentence was 
 passed upon him. All that he had was to be for- 
 feited to the King. He wrote to Henry, and begged 
 that at least the Oxford College might be spared. 
 To this he got no answer. And yet the King now 
 and then gave him some Httle comfort. He fell ill, 
 and Henry sent his own physicians to him ; and when 
 
 A A 
 
354 STORTES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 they reported that his old favourite was suffering 
 more from trouble of mind than from sickness of 
 body, and that he would die unless he had some 
 comforting words, he sent a ring with a kind message 
 and bade Anne Boleyn do the same. 
 
 About two months afterwards Wolsey received the 
 King's command to go down to York, and take up 
 his duties there as Archbishop. He went, staying 
 for a week on his way at Peterborough, \^here on the 
 Thursday in Holy Week he washed the feet of fifty- 
 nine pilgrims.^ He remained at York for some seven 
 months, busying himself with his duties as Arch- 
 bishop. Then the last blow was given. Lord North- 
 umberland brought a warrant to apprehend him for 
 high treason. (He had had some quite harmless com- 
 munications with the French ambassador.) He started 
 to go to London, and though he was ill, would not delay 
 his journey. On the third day he reached Leicester 
 Abbey. The monks with their chief were standing 
 ready to receive him. " Father Abbot," he said, as 
 he was helped to get down from his mule, '^ I am 
 come to lay my bones among you." He was taken 
 at once to bed, and lay there for two days; on the 
 third he prepared for death. He sent a message to 
 the King, in which among other things he said : " If 
 I had served my God as diligently as I have served 
 ^ Fifty-nine was the number of his own years. 
 
THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 355 
 
 my King, He would not have given me over in my 
 grey hairs." At eight o'clock in the evening he died. 
 It was the 29th of November, the eve of St. Andrew, 
 in the year 1530. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 
 
 When Wolsey gave up the Great Seal, it was to 
 Thomas More that the King handed it. Thomas 
 More, who was then nearly fifty years of age, was one 
 of the most famous men in England, as he was one 
 of the very best. He was the son of a judge,i 
 and had himself followed the profession of the Law. 
 But he was a good deal more than a lawyer. He 
 had studied at Oxford, and had been very well 
 thought of as a scholar, and he was a member of 
 Parliament at the early age of twenty-one. In Par- 
 liament he was noted for his independence, even 
 
 1 The old man was still alive and still able to perform his 
 duties. It is related that every day the new Chancellor, before 
 going to his own court, would pay a visit to that in which his 
 father sat, and kneeling down would receive the old man's 
 blessing. 
 
j:> 
 
 6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 persuading the House of Commons to refuse, on one 
 occasion, the money which the King demanded. 
 This was in the days of Henry VH. When the 
 younger Henry came to the throne, he soon took 
 More into his service. As time went on he continued 
 to rise in favour. In 1521 the King pubHshed a book 
 on theology, in which More is said to have helped 
 him ; and More himself wrote a book in defence of 
 the King. Henry professed, and we may believe 
 really felt for the time, a great affection for him. 
 More was not only very learned but also very witty, 
 and the King, as long as he was not thwarted in what 
 he desired, could be very friendly and even affectionate. 
 But More always knew how very easily all this might 
 be changed. Once when the King had come unex- 
 pectedly to More*s house at Chelsea, and had dined 
 with him, he walked after dinner about the garden 
 with his arm round his host's neck. When he was 
 gone More's son-in-law, Thomas Roper, said to him 
 that he must be very well pleased to have the King 
 on such friendly terms with him. He had never been 
 seen before to be so familiar with a subject, except 
 that once he had walked arm-in-arm with Wolsey. 
 " I find his Grace my very good lord indeed," was 
 More's answer, "and I believe he does as singularly 
 favour me as any subject within this realm. How- 
 ever, son Roper, I may tell thee, I have no cause to 
 
THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 
 
 357 
 
 be proud thereof, for if my head would win him a 
 castle in France, it should not fail to go." 
 
 Nor did it fail to go, as we shall see, but not for a 
 castle in France. The way this came about was as 
 follows : the Pope would not pronounce that the 
 
 THE GREAT BIBLE. 
 
 King's marriage to Queen Katharine was null. 
 
 So 
 
 the King, having got opinions in his favour from 
 sundry learned persons, had sentence pronounced to 
 that effect by Thomas Cranmer, the new Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. This was in May 1533, but the 
 King had been already for some months married to 
 
358 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 Anne Boleyn. Early in the next year an Act of 
 Parliament was passed which declared that the realm 
 of England was not under the spiritual rule of the 
 Pope, and that the King was entitled to have the 
 supreme power which had hitherto been exercised by 
 the Pope. We must not suppose that all this was 
 done on Anne Boleyn's account. The English people 
 had always been jealous of the Pope's power, and the 
 best English kings had been careful to see that it 
 never grew too great. Thus a decree or Bull of the 
 Pope, so called from the large round seal — bttlla — 
 which was fastened to it, could not be brought into 
 the country without the King's leave. There was 
 then a good deal to make Henry think that he was 
 doing right when he acted as he did. On the other 
 hand, we may be sure that if the Pope had given 
 way in the matter of the divorce, the course of things 
 would have been very different. 
 
 For some time More had seen something of what 
 was going to happen. We may wonder that he ever 
 took the office of Chancellor. Perhaps he hoped that 
 the King would give up his plans if he found that 
 the Pope was firmly set against them. He certainly 
 did not fear, at least then, that there would be an 
 absolute breaking away from Rome. And it must be 
 remembered that it was not easy to refuse anything 
 to King Henry, especially when he asked it in a good- 
 
THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 359 
 
 humoured way. However, in May 1532 he gave up 
 the Great Seal. He told the news of his giving it up 
 to his wife in this way. He was at Chelsea Church 
 on the day after his resignation, and had been sing- 
 ing as usual in the choir. It had been the custom 
 for one of his gentlemen to go to Lady More's seat, 
 and to let her know that the Chancellor had left the 
 church by saying, " My Lord is gone before." This 
 time he went himself and said, " My Lord is gone " 
 {i.e. he was no longer my lord). Lady More was 
 very angry when she found out what had happened. 
 Among other things she said, " Would to God I 
 were a man, you should quickly see what I would do. 
 What ! why, I would go forward with the best ; for, 
 as my mother was wont to say, it is ever better to 
 rule than to be ruled, and therefore I would not be 
 so foolish as to be ruled where I might rule." All 
 that Sir Thomas said to this was, " By my faith, wife, I 
 dare say you speak truth, for I never found you willing 
 to be ruled yet." So far the King was very friendly. 
 But the end was to come soon. The new Queen was 
 to be crowned on May 31, 1533, and Sir Thomas 
 More was invited to be present at the ceremony. He 
 would not go ; he was not satisfied, he said, of the law- 
 fulness of the marriage. This year More's enemies, 
 of course at the desire of the King, endeavoured to 
 destroy him by what was called an Act of Attainder. 
 
36o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 This was a Bill brought into Parliament declaring 
 that such and such a person was guilty of a cer- 
 tain crime named. If the two Houses passed this 
 Bill, and the King gave his assent, the person was 
 taken to be guilty just as if he had been tried in the 
 regular way by a judge and jury. However, the 
 attempt failed. There really was nothing to bring up 
 against More, and his name was struck out of the Bill. 
 Then these same enemies tried to make out that 
 he had taken bribes while holding his office of 
 Chancellor. They failed again. There never had 
 been a more honest judge upon the Bench, and More 
 was easily able to show that the stories brought up 
 against him were nothing at all. One may serve as 
 a specimen. It was said that he had received from a 
 certain widow-lady, who had a suit in his court, a 
 New Year's present of a pair of gloves with forty 
 gold pieces. The lady had sent the gloves and the 
 money, hoping, we may suppose, -to bespeak the 
 Chancellor's favour. He returned the money with 
 this message — 
 
 " It would be against good manners to refuse a 
 lady's gift ; therefore I take the gloves, but as for the 
 linijtg, I utterly refuse it." 
 
 The next attack was one which could not fail. In 
 April 1534 Parliament passed an Act, declaring 
 that the King's marriage with Katharine was null, that 
 
THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 361 
 
 his marriage with Anne Boleyn was lawful, and that 
 any child of his by Anne had the right of succession 
 to the throne. (A child, afterwards Queen Elizabeth, 
 had been born in September 1533.) It was also pro- 
 vided that any person might be called upon to take 
 an oath that he assented to all these things, and that 
 if he refused to do so he was guilty of treason. This 
 oath More was at once called upon to take. He 
 refused. He would swear, he said, to the succession, 
 but the oath as it stood was against his conscience. 
 Nothing could move him. When the Duke of 
 Norfolk warned him that it was dangerous to resist 
 the King, quoting the text, " The wrath of a King 
 is death," " Is that all .? " he replied. '' Then there is 
 no more difference between your Grace and me, than 
 that I shall die to-day and you to-morrow ; and 
 'tis surely better to offend an earthly king than the 
 King of heaven." For four days he was put in the 
 charge of the Abbot of Westminster, the King hoping 
 that he might be persuaded. As he still refused, he 
 was sent to the Tower. The Lieutenant of the Tower 
 apologized to him for not making him as comfortable 
 as he could wish. The King, he said, would be 
 displeased. " Good Master Lieutenant," said More, 
 " whenever I find fault with the entertainment which 
 you provide do you turn me out of doors." 
 
 For many months he was kept in prison, many 
 
362 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 persons trying to frighten or persuade him. But 
 they came in vain. He could not act against his 
 conscience. On July i, 1535, he was brought to trial. 
 He defended himself well, but in those days a 
 man accused of treason was never acquitted, and the 
 jury, after but a few minutes' consideration, found 
 him guilty. The Lord Chancellor was about to 
 pronounce sentence, when the prisoner stopped him. 
 " My lord," he said, " when I was towards the law, the 
 manner was to ask the prisoner whether he could 
 give any reason why sentence should not be pro- 
 nounced against him." The Lord Chancellor had to 
 own that he was wrong, though of course nothing 
 that More could say could make any difference. He 
 was taken back to the Tower with the edge of the axe 
 turned towards him. When he reached the wharf 
 where he was to land, his daughter Margaret Roper 
 rushed through the guard and threw her arms round 
 his neck, crying out, " My father, my father ! " He 
 blessed her, and sought to comfort her. Still she clung 
 to him, till the rough soldiers themselves were in tears. 
 After this he had not long to wait for his release. 
 In the early morning of July 6, the King's 
 messenger came to him with the tidings that he must 
 die that day at nine o'clock. He heard the message 
 with calmness. He would have dressed himself in 
 his best clothes — the clothes belonged by custom to 
 
THE GREAT CHANCELLOR. 363 
 
 the executioner, — for, as he said, " if they were of cloth 
 of gold I should think them well bestowed on him 
 who should do me so singular a service." He was per- 
 suaded, however, to change them for a frieze gown ; but 
 he sent the executioner a gold coin. When he came to 
 the scaffold, he thought that it looked weakly built. 
 " Lend me thy hand. Master Lieutenant," he said, 
 " and see me safe up ; as for my coming down, let me 
 shift for myself." He said the fifty-first Psalm (" Have 
 mercy upon me, O God, after Thy great goodness "), 
 and then said to the executioner, who had asked his 
 pardon, as was the custom, that it was the greatest of 
 services. "Pluck up thy spirits," he added, ''and be 
 not afraid to do thy office. My neck is very short ; 
 see that thou strike not awry for thy credit's sake." 
 And yet again, bidding him hold his hand a moment, 
 till he should put his beard out of the way, " for that 
 is no traitor : it hath not offended his Highness." 
 
 His Highness was playing backgammon with 
 Anne Boleyn when the news of his old friend's 
 death reached him. " Thou art the cause of this 
 man's death," he said to her in an angry tone, and 
 left the room. Whatever he felt did not prevent him 
 from seizing the dead man's house and goods. But 
 it added to the aversion that was growing up in his 
 mind against the Queen herself. In less than a year 
 she had followed More. 
 
364 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Margaret Roper got possession of the severed 
 
 head. She had it embalmed and placed in a casket. 
 
 When she was dying it was put in her arms, and it 
 
 was placed in her coffin. 
 
 " Mom broaden'd on the borders of the dark, 
 Ere I saw her, who clasp'd in her last trance 
 Her murder'd father's head." 
 
 Tennyson, Dream of Fair Women. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN. 
 
 When Henry VHI. died (January 28, 1547) 
 there was no doubt about who was to succeed him. 
 It was his son Edward, born of his third Queen, Jane 
 Seymour, whom he had married after the death of 
 Anne Boleyn. Edward was but eight years old 
 when he came to the throne, and nearly four months 
 short of fifteen when he died. What his character 
 really was it is not easy to say. That he was very 
 much bent on having his own way is clear ; it is just 
 what we should expect from the son of such a father. 
 We are told that he was " inclined to generosity." 
 It has been said that he was unfeeling, because he 
 
THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN. 365 
 
 records in his diary without a word of pity or sorrow 
 that his uncle had been executed. I am not sure 
 
 EDWARD VI. 
 
 that this is fair. A young boy, if he wrote such a 
 thing down at all, probably would write it in the very 
 shortest way. And he had been in the midst of such 
 
366 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 things ever since he was old enough to take notice of 
 what was happening round him. Beyond all doubt he 
 was clever. " He begins to wish to understand what 
 is going on," says the person who describes him as 
 inclined to be generous ; while a physician who was 
 called in to attend him during his last illness says 
 that his knowledge of Greek and Latin and of other 
 matters was quite extraordinary for his years. He 
 showed his fondness for learning, not only by diligently 
 following his own studies, but by taking great interest 
 in the education of others. He had something to do 
 with the foundation of grammar schools, many of 
 which are called by his name. The most important 
 of all, and one in which he took a particular interest, 
 was Christ's Hospital in London. This still flourishes, 
 and is often called the Blue Coat School^ on account of 
 the dress which the boys wear. 
 
 Another thing that he cared for even more than 
 he cared for his books was his religion. A great 
 change had been taking place in England, and else- 
 where also, in what men believed since the early years 
 of the sixteenth century. It had indeed begun long 
 before, but I have said nothing before about it, 
 because it is not a matter that I care to write about 
 in such a book as this. Even now I will say no more 
 than that there was one party which held by the 
 old or Roman belief about Christian doctrines, and 
 
THE BO Y-KING AND THE THREE- WEEKS QUEEN. 367 
 
 another which held by the new or Reformed beh'ef.^ 
 The young King was very strongly attached to the 
 party of the Reformers, and was anxious that, what- 
 ever happened to himself, this should continue to 
 rule the country. As time went on, it became very 
 plain that he could not live very long. In the spring 
 of the year 1552 he had an attack of both small-pox 
 and measles, was often ill during the summer, and 
 caught so bad a cold in the autumn that he never 
 recovered from it. What was there to be done ? 
 Naturally his successor would be the Princess Mary, 
 daughter of Katharine of Arragon. But Mary held 
 most firmly by the old faith, and would not so much 
 as listen to the preaching of the new. As she was 
 seven-and-thirty years old, and was as determined to 
 have her way as her father had been, she would 
 certainly undo all that had been done in setting 
 forward the Reformed faith. Then there w^as the 
 Princess Elizabeth. She was of the party of the 
 Reformers, but it would be very difficult to get 
 England to accept her instead of her elder sister. 
 And she too was of age — she was two-and-twenty — 
 and with a much stronger will than the great nobles 
 
 ^ This had much to do with what has been said about King 
 Henry breaking away from the Pope. But Henry, though he 
 did this, never held the Reformed doctrines ; on the contrary, 
 he persecuted those who did hold them. For the most part, 
 however, the old faith went with obedience to the Pope, and 
 the new with breaking away from him. 
 
368 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 of her brother's Council Hked, anxious as they were to 
 keep power in their own hands. There was a Scotch 
 cousin indeed, Mary, daughter of James V. of Scotland, 
 and so grand-daughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry 
 VIII.'s sister. We shall hear of her again. At this 
 time she was in France, and was to be married, when 
 old enough, to the Dauphin, or eldest son of the King 
 of France. It was quite out of the question that she 
 should be Queen of England. The most powerful 
 of King Edward's advisers, John Dudley, Duke of 
 Northumberland,^ chose for the future Queen Lady 
 Jane Grey, eldest daughter of the Marquis of Dorset 
 and his wife Frances Brandon, Frances Brandon being 
 the daughter of Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, 
 and Mary Tudor, younger sister of Henry VHI. 
 First he brought about her marriage to his own son, 
 Guildford Dudley. She was fifteen, and the bride- 
 groom two years older. This was in May 1553. 
 Edward did not particularly like Lady Jane ; perhaps 
 he was jealous of her, for she was even more learned 
 than himself.2 g^^ j^g ^g^g persuaded to name her 
 
 ^ This was not the Percy title, of which we have heard 
 before. The Percies were in disgrace. 
 
 ^ She could speak French and Itahan ; could write Latin 
 very well ; had more than once spoken Greek, and could under- 
 stand Hebrew, Chaldee, and Arabic. All this we know from 
 a very learned man, Roger Ascham, who found her one day sit- 
 ting at home reading Greek, while all her family were hunting 
 deer. 
 
THE BOY-KING AND THE THREE-WEEKS QUEEN. 369 
 
 as his successor, because she would hold by the new- 
 faith. Accordingly he allowed a deed to be drawn 
 up by which the crown was to go first to any son 
 there might be of Frances Brandon, then to Lady 
 Jane Grey, then to Lady Jane's sons, then to her 
 sisters, and so on. As Frances Brandon had no 
 sons, this was to leave the crown to Lady Jane. The 
 judges were called in to put this in proper shape. 
 They said that it could not be done. The matter 
 was settled by Act of Parliament and could not be 
 altered except by Act. At last they consented, if 
 they had an order to do it and a pardon, for it was 
 high treason, under the Great Seal. The Council all 
 signed it. Archbishop Cranmer last of all ; he was 
 most unwilling to do it, knowing that the King's 
 sisters had the better right, but the dying boy begged 
 him so earnestly to do so for the sake of religion that 
 at last he gave way. 
 
 Edward died on July 6. Poor Lady Jane knew 
 nothing of what had been going on. Even the 
 King's death was kept from her for a time. Then her 
 father and mother, with the Duke and her husband, 
 came and explained what was done, and falling on 
 their knees, did homage to her as their Queen, 
 Astonished and troubled, she fainted away. For a 
 time, after coming to her senses, she refused to 
 consent. But she could not hold out against the 
 
 P3 B 
 
370 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 persuasions and even threats of all her family, and 
 gave way. That evening — it was the loth of July — 
 she was proclaimed, but no one cried, God save the 
 Queen ! 
 
 Her reign, if it can be called a reign, lasted little 
 more than two weeks. Nobody cared for her, or 
 indeed knew anything of her. What they did know 
 of her father-in-law, who, they were sure, had set the 
 whole affair going, they did not like. Even he saw 
 that the thing was hopeless, and proclaimed Queen 
 Mary at Cambridge. Lady Jane and her husband 
 were sent to the Tower. At first Mary meant to spare 
 their lives. But there were insurrections against her. 
 One, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt, for a time seemed 
 dangerous. When this had been put down, the two 
 prisoners were executed, Dudley on Tower Hill, 
 Lady Jane, on account of her royal descent, within the 
 walls of the Tower. The day was February 12, 1554. 
 
 CHAPTER XVn. 
 
 THE RIVAL QUEENS. 
 
 I HAVE said nothing about the reign of Queen 
 Mary. It was a dismal time for England. The 
 Queen, who had suffered herself on account of her 
 religion, to which she was indeed sincerely attached, 
 was bent upon bringing her subjects back to the old 
 
THE RIVAL QUEENS. 
 
 371 
 
 faith. Many who refused were cruelly put to death. 
 About these things, however, you will have to read 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 elsewhere. I must mention two things only : that 
 Mary, very much against the will of her subjects, 
 
372 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 married Philip II., King of Spain, and was not at all 
 happy in her marriage ; and that the town of Calais 
 was taken by the French in the month of January, 
 1558. The Queen was much distressed at this loss, 
 and is said to have declared that after her death they 
 would find " Calais " written on her heart. She died 
 in the month of November that same year ; and to 
 the great joy of the nation was succeeded by her 
 sister Elizabeth. 
 
 There was much to make people hopeful, but there 
 were also many difficulties in the way. The new 
 Queen's title to the Crown was doubtful, and there 
 was a great party in England, not half or nearly half 
 the people, but still numerous, which did not wish 
 well to her. Both at home and abroad things had 
 been much mismanaged. There was no money in 
 the Treasury, and England was at war with France, 
 not for any object of her own, but to suit the plans of 
 King Philip of Spain. And the new Queen herself 
 was, in some respects, a strange person. She knew 
 how to choose good counsellors, and, on the whole, 
 she trusted them, and listened to their advice. 
 William Cecil, Lord Burleigh, was one of her 
 ministers during nearly the whole of her reign — in 
 fact, from her coming to the throne, till he died, on 
 August 4, 1598. 
 
 But she had very bad favourites, and sometimes she 
 
THE RIVAL QUEENS. 373 
 
 would let them lead her into very dangerous positions. 
 She was bent on doing great things for England, but 
 sometimes she was so mean that she would not fur- 
 nish her soldiers and sailors with proper pay and food. 
 And she was foolishly vain — vain of her learning, of 
 which she really had a good deal, and vain of her 
 beauty, which was nothing very remarkable, though 
 all her courtiers, good and bad, spoke to her and of 
 her, and that to the very end of her life, as if she was 
 the most lovely creature under the sun. 
 
 But the person who really was her greatest danger, 
 and of whom, at the same time, this vanity of hers 
 made her most jealous, was Mary Stuart of Scotland. 
 
 When I last mentioned Mary, it was just before 
 the death of Edward VI. She was then betrothed to 
 Francis, eldest son of King Henry II. of France, 
 The marriage took place in 1558. In the following 
 year King Henry died, and her husband succeeded 
 him. Mary, who was now Queen of France, assumed 
 the arms and style of Queen of England. This was 
 a clear denial of Elizabeth's title. In 1560 her husband 
 died. Eight months afterwards Mary came to Scot- 
 land. She was only nineteen, very beautiful and 
 charming, very accomplished, and in a degree learned 
 — she had quite a large library of books, considering 
 the age. But she led a very troubled life. There was 
 the same division in Scotland as there was in England, 
 
374 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 between the favourers of the old faith and the favourers 
 of the new ; and Mary, unlike her cousin Elizabeth, be- 
 longed to the old. This made her the hope of those who 
 hated Elizabeth. She was, in any case, the next heir 
 to the English Crown, and many believed that it 
 rightfully belonged to her now, partly because they 
 held that Elizabeth's mother had not been properly 
 married, and partly because she, as a heretic, was 
 not qualified to reign. In 1565 Mary married a 
 certain Lord Darnley, a foolish and ill-behaved 
 young man, with whom she soon began to quarrel 
 In the following year she had a son, of whom we 
 shall hear again. EHzabeth was troubled at the 
 news. " The Queen of Scots," she cried, " hath a fair 
 son, while I am but a barren stock." She had refused 
 to marry, though her subjects had time after time 
 urged her to do so, and though she amused herself by 
 encouraging various suitors, some of them foreign 
 princes, among them a brother of the French King, 
 Henry III., and some of them English nobles, as 
 William Courtenay, Earl of Devon, and Robert 
 Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Dudley is said to have 
 procured the murder of his wife, Amy Robsart, in 
 order to clear the way for his marriage to Elizabeth. 
 But she could never resolve to give up her liberty, 
 and at the same time she was really afraid that her 
 marriage would injure the country. All the other 
 
THE RIVAL QUEENS. 375 
 
 parties, their own hopes being gone, would have 
 joined together against her and her husband. 
 
 Mary, with her son to come after her, was now a 
 really dangerous rival, and if she had been a wise 
 woman, could hardly have failed to make good her 
 claim to the Crown. But a wise woman, happily, it 
 may be, for this country, she was not. She had done, 
 as we have seen, a very foolish thing in choosing 
 Darnley for a husband, but worse was to follow. He 
 refused to attend the christening of the young Prince. 
 Afterwards he fell ill of small-pox, and Mary went 
 to see him, and behaved very affectionately to him. 
 When he could be moved, he was brought to a 
 house outside the walls of Edinburgh, called the 
 Kirk of Field, because it had once been a house of 
 monks. It was a small, ruinous place. Mary slept 
 on the first floor ; her husband was below. To all 
 appearance she was very loving to him. But a few 
 days after he came into the house, he was warned 
 that, unless he got away at once, he would never 
 leave it alive. On February 9 — i. e. twelve days 
 after Darnley came to Kirk of Field — there was 
 a wedding of two of the royal servants at Holyrood 
 Palace, and a ball afterwards. The Queen was at 
 the wedding and at the ball ; she went in the evening 
 to bid her husband good-night, but she slept at the 
 palace. That night Kivk of Field was blown up 
 
376 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 with gunpowder. Some of the servants were found 
 dead among the ruins. But Darnley's body was 
 discovered eighty yards from the house, with that of 
 his page. They were dressed in their shirts only ; 
 neither showed any marks of scorching. Indeed there 
 were no signs to show how they had come by their 
 death. That they had been murdered was plain. 
 
 One thing comes out quite clearly, when, very 
 unwillingly and after a long delay, the Queen 
 ordered an inquiry to be made into the affair, that 
 the man who had plotted the murder was a certain 
 James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. Whether Mary 
 herself was also guilty was doubted then, as it is 
 doubted now. It is needless to say any more, than 
 that, little more than three months afterwards, May 
 15, 1567, she married the murderer. Whether she 
 was guilty or not, the suspicion was so strong that, 
 in Scotland at least, it ruined her hopes. For a time 
 it looked as if there might be civil war. Two armies, 
 one led by Mary and Bothwell, the other by the nobles 
 who were her enemies, actually met. But there was 
 no fighting. Mary's soldiers left her, and she had to 
 yield herself prisoner, and a few weeks later was shut 
 up in Lochleven Castle and compelled to give up the 
 crown. In the year following she escaped, but her 
 friends were defeated at Langside (just a year after 
 her marriage), and she had to take refuge in England. 
 
THE RIVAL QUEENS. 377 
 
 In England she remained for nineteen years, taken 
 from castle to castle, and, wherever she was, a cause 
 of anxiety and danger to Elizabeth. In 1570 the 
 Pope solemnly declared that Elizabeth did not belong 
 to the Church, and that she was not rightfully Queen 
 of England. This turned against her many Roman 
 Catholics who up to that time had been loyal. 
 Abroad the great Roman Catholic rulers were her 
 enemies, and, if they could have given up their 
 jealousies and united against her, she could hardly 
 have held her own. Then plot after plot was made 
 in England against her life. With all these things 
 Mary Stuart was more or less mixed up. She knew 
 about many of them, and it; was to put her upon the 
 English throne that all were made. Again and 
 again EHzabeth was urged to get rid of her. If Lord 
 Burleigh had had his way, she would have been 
 executed long before the end of the nineteen years. 
 
 At last a plot was discovered in which she was 
 proved, by the testimony of her own handwriting, if 
 the English ministers of state were to be believed, to 
 have had a part. One Anthony Babington, who had 
 been one of Mary's pages, and had been charmed by 
 her, as were all who came near her, John Ballard, a 
 Jesuit priest, who had obtained the Pope's leave for 
 the assassination of Elizabeth, and others conspired to 
 murder the Queen, and to raise the country for Mary 
 
37S STORIES FROM ENGLISH IIISTOR Y. 
 
 Stuart. Babington wrote to Mary, telling her of 
 what had been planned, and she sent him an answer, 
 in which she approved of his plans, and urged him to 
 carry them out with all speed. But the English 
 ministers knew what was being done, — they had spies 
 everywhere, — and at the proper time arrested the 
 conspirators. Mary's letter was found among their 
 papers, and Babington's letter to her in her room, 
 which was searched during her absence. Of course 
 all these things are doubted or denied by those who 
 take Mary's side. More need not be said. She may 
 not have been guilty, but Elizabeth had only too 
 much reason for believing that she was. The Queen 
 had many doubts as to what she should do. She 
 hated the idea of having to put her cousin to death ; 
 but then, as she said to herself, it was " Strike, or be 
 stricken." If it could have been done without her 
 knowledge it would have pleased her best. At last 
 she gave a half consent, and on February 8, 1587, 
 Mary Stuart was beheaded. 
 
IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 379 
 
 * CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 
 
 No man was more hated in England during the 
 second half of the sixteenth century than Philip II., 
 King of Spain. Men remembered how busy he had 
 been in the cruel persecution which had been carried 
 on during the reign of his wife, Queen Mary. They 
 knew that he was always on the watch to recover 
 the power which he had lost at Mary's death, that he 
 hoped to conquer and enslave their country, and that 
 he had plotted more than once the death of their 
 Queen Elizabeth. And in the minds of many there 
 was a feeling at work which was not less strong than 
 hatred. This was the hope of gain. Spain had 
 become, since the discovery of America, marvellously 
 rich. The Gulf of Mexico and the neighbouring seas 
 were called the "Spanish Main." Ships came in 
 numbers from thence, bringing treasure, chiefly silver, 
 to fill King Philip's treasury. It is no wonder that 
 bold English seamen began to think that it would be 
 a fine thing if they could at the same time do damage 
 
38o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 to the great enemy of their country and enrich them- 
 selves. One of the plans they had was to seize the 
 treasure-ships as they sailed across the sea ; another, 
 bolder and more dangerous, but, if it succeeded, 
 certain to be even more profitable, to plunder the 
 settlements on the Main from which the ships were 
 wont to sail. 
 
 The most famous of these adventurers was Francis 
 Drake. He was a Devonshire lad, born in 1545, the 
 son of a yeoman, who was a Protestant preacher, and 
 afterwards became Rector of Upchurch in Kent. 
 The elder Drake had, it is said, been a sailor himself, 
 and the son went to sea when quite a young boy. 
 He was apprenticed to a master-mariner, who traded 
 with France and Holland. His master, dying, left 
 him his vessel, and young Francis began business on 
 his own account. This, however, he soon gave up, 
 to serve, under one leader or another, in voyages 
 across the ocean. A fine story might be told about 
 every one of these voyages, and about others which 
 Drake made on his own account ; but I have to be 
 brief, and must be content with telling the tale of one 
 expedition. 
 
 In November, 1577, Francis Drake sailed out of 
 Plymouth harbour with five ships, not one of them 
 of more than 100 tons burden. It was pretended 
 that he was going on a trading voyage to Egypt, but 
 
IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 381 
 
 it was scarcely a secret that he was really bound for 
 
 SHIPS IN A STORM. 
 
 the Spanish Main. The Queen had helped him with 
 money in fitting out his ships, and many of the chief 
 
382 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 nobles about the Court had taken shares in the 
 venture. 
 
 On his way out a terrible thing happened. The 
 Queen had tried to keep the help which she gave to 
 the expedition a secret from her chief minister, Lord 
 Burleigh. She knew that the thing was not to his 
 liking, and that he would try to stop it. The fact 
 was that he wanted England to remain at peace with 
 Spain, and that this could not be if Drake was not 
 only permitted to sail, but even helped by the Queen. 
 Lord Burleigh found out what was going on, but he 
 could not stop the expedition. All that he could do 
 was to try to make it fail. He employed a man, 
 Thomas Doughty by name, whose business it would 
 be to do all the harm he could to Drake and his 
 venture. Doughty soon went to work ; a deadly 
 quarrel grew up between him and his chief; things 
 went on from bad to worse, till Drake, feeling sure 
 that unless he got rid of the cause of the trouble the 
 whole business would be ruined, resolved to act. 
 When he reached the Straits of Magellan, he brought 
 Doughty to trial on a charge of treason. The court, 
 which consisted of officers of the ships, with the 
 second-in-command as their chief, found the accused 
 guilty. Drake and Doughty had been close friends. 
 They now took the Holy Communion together ; 
 Doughty kissed the Admiral in token of his forgive- 
 
IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 383 
 
 ness, and then knelt down at the block. The execu- 
 tioner dealt him a blow with the sword, and holding 
 up the severed head, cried out, " Lo ! this is the end 
 of traitors." 
 
 This terrible duty done, Drake set sail again. He 
 passed through the Straits of Magellan without loss, 
 but when he had reached the Pacific a dreadful storm 
 burst upon his little squadron — three out of the five 
 ships which had sailed from Plymouth had been 
 broken up. One of the three, the Marygold^ after 
 three weeks' struggle with the weather, went down 
 with all hands, another, the Elizabeth, was taken back 
 to England by the second-in-command. Drake was 
 left alone with the Pelican, now named the Golden 
 Hind. 
 
 Slowly he made his way up the western coast of 
 South America. He sailed into the harbour of 
 Valparaiso, seized a ship laden with gold and 
 provisions, and took all that was worth taking in the 
 town itself. At other points on the coast he laid 
 his hands on sundry prizes, and just missed getting 
 hold of others. The country was becoming alarmed, 
 and Drake, who had been hoping to be joined by the 
 Elizabeth, taken home, as we know, by its captain, 
 resolved to act by himself. He boldly entered the 
 harbour of Lima, and searched all the vessels that 
 were in it for treasure. He found nothing, but he 
 
384 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 heard of" a prize which, if he could only secure it, 
 would repay him for all his labours. A treasure-ship 
 had been sent off some fortnight before to Panama. 
 For three days a dead calm kept him where he was, 
 and almost betrayed him into the hands of the 
 Spaniards. Then a breeze sprang up, and he started 
 in pursuit. The treasure- ship had a great start, but 
 the Golden Hind was a fast sailer. At Payta, near 
 the northern boundary of Peru, he was only two 
 days behind ; on March I his look-out man, his own 
 nephew, John Drake, spied the prize. All day he 
 followed her unseen ; w^hen it was dark he ranged 
 alongside, and took her without having to strike a 
 blow. It took three days to count and transfer the 
 booty. When they came to reckon their gains, they 
 found that they had secured thirteen chests of 
 piasters,^ eighty pounds weight of gold, a great store 
 ot precious stones, and uncoined silver in such 
 quantities that it served to ballast the ship. 
 
 After such a piece of good fortune the best thing 
 to do was to go home. Another capture he made, 
 and this was of two pilots who had with them the 
 charts by which the Spanish ships were accustomed to 
 navigate the Pacific. Then he turned homewards, 
 but the thought came into his mind that he might go 
 
 ^ A piaster, or " piece of eight," was of much the same value 
 as a dollar, i. e. a little more than \s. 
 
IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 385 
 
 by the North-West Passage,^ and so gain the glory of a 
 great discovery. Accordingly he sailed northward, and 
 reached about 45° north latitude, when the increasing 
 cold, and the look of the land, which showed no 
 prospect of a passage eastward, made him turn back. 
 He coasted along to where the city of San Francisco 
 now stands. Thence he boldly made for the Moluccas, 
 three thousand miles away across the unknown 
 Pacific. For more than two months the voyagers 
 were out of sight of land. When they reached it they 
 were by no means out of danger. Their narrowest 
 escape was early in 1580, when the Goldeft Hind sirnck 
 on a reef near one of the islands of the Celebes 
 group. For nearly a day and a night it seemed that 
 the great voyage was to end in shipwreck after all. 
 Drake began to lighten the ship, a painful business 
 when the cargo was so precious. Suddenly the wind 
 changed, and the Golden Hind slipped back into deep 
 water. After refitting in Java, Drake set his face 
 homeward. We, who are used to go round the v/orld 
 
 ^ It has been always beheved that there was a short way to 
 the Eastern Coast of Asia, going westward from Europe, sailing 
 round the north of the continent of North America, and so 
 getting into the Pacific. A reward was offered to any one who 
 should discover such a passage, and was actually paid to 
 Captain McClure between forty and fifty years ago, but the 
 discovery was practically useless, as the way would for ninety- 
 nine years out of a hundred be blocked with ide. 
 
 c c 
 
386 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 in less than seventy days, read with surprise that the 
 journey took him the best part of a year. It was not 
 till September 28, 1580, that the Golden ///;^<^ reached 
 Plymouth. Drake had been away from home nearly 
 three years. 
 
 For a time it seemed as if the great sailor was to 
 receive a very poor welcome at home. King Philip 
 was of course furiously angry at what had happened, 
 and had instructed his ambassador to demand justice. 
 No news of Drake had reached England. There had 
 been one report, that he had been taken by the 
 Spaniards and hanged, another that his ship had gone 
 to the bottom. Lord Burleigh hoped that either one 
 or the other of these might be true. As for the 
 Queen, she solemnly declared to the Spanish am- 
 bassador that she had had nothing to do with the 
 expedition, and that when the pirate — for so the 
 Spaniards called him — came home he would be 
 severely punished. And now the "pirate" had come. 
 
 Drake had friends at Court, and they warned him 
 to be on his guard. He refused to take his ship into 
 Plymouth harbour, keeping her where, if need should 
 be, she could escape. K week afterwards the Queen 
 sent for him. He went, but did not go empty. He 
 carried with him some of the best of his spoils. 
 When he reached London he found that alarming 
 news had come from Spain. King Philip had seized 
 
■ IN THE WESTERN SEAS. 387 
 
 Portugal, and had landed some soldiers in Ireland. 
 Burleigh and his friends were terribly frightened, but 
 the Queen heard enough from Drake to give her 
 fresh courage. He told her what he had done, and 
 showed her how easily it might be done again. 
 
 The Spanish ambassador still called for justice, 
 and the Queen spoke him fair. An account, she 
 said, should be taken of the treasure brought home. 
 His master should have what belonged to him. An 
 account was taken, but Drake was allowed to take 
 ^10,000 out of it for himself Then the Golden Hind 
 was brought round from Plymouth to the Thames, 
 and everybody in London flocked to see it. The 
 Queen still answered the ambassador with excuses 
 and promises, but she had made up her mind to stand 
 by her bold servant. In April, i58i,she let every- 
 body know it by going down to Deptford, where the 
 Golden Hind had been hauled ashore, and making 
 Drake a knight. His ship was to be preserved as a 
 trophy. 
 
 Great schemes for carrying on the work which 
 Drake had begun were made. But now the Queen 
 hung back. The schemes would cost money, and 
 she did not like spending it. They meant open war, 
 and from open war she still shrank. 
 
 At last, in September, 1585, Drake was afloat again. 
 He did damage at various places on the coast of 
 
388 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Spain, and then sailing to the West Indies, burnt 
 three of the chief Spanish settlements. When he 
 came home again England was in great danger, for 
 King Philip had been steadily preparing fresh forces 
 to subdue her. Drake was put in command of a 
 squadron, with which he boldly sailed into the 
 harbour of Cadiz. He burnt there, it was said, 
 10,000 tons of shipping, — this he called "singeing 
 the King of Spain's beard," — afterwards sailing to 
 the Azores to capture Philip's own merchantman, the 
 San Filippe, with a cargo worth a million of money. 
 In my next chapter I shall have something more to 
 say about Drake. For the present, all that remains to 
 be told is, that he sailed in 1595 with another ex- 
 pedition, which was to act against Spain in the West 
 Indies, and that he died on board his ship, off 
 Portobello, on January 28, 1596. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE PERFECT KNIGHT. 
 
 England in the days of Queen Elizabeth was, 
 we may say, full of great men. It was an age when 
 great things had to be done, and men were found 
 
THE PERFECT KNIGHT. 389 
 
 ready to do them. If Philip Sidney, of whom I am 
 going to say something in this chapter, does not 
 stand in the front rank of EHzabeth's heroes, as they 
 may be called, it was because his life was cut short. 
 In all the company there was no one more noble. 
 
 Philip Sidney was born in the year in which Lady 
 Jane Grey was beheaded ; he had his name " Philip," 
 given him by way of compliment to the Queen's 
 husband, Philip of Spain. His father, Henry Sidney, 
 might very well, but for his prudence, have been 
 brought to destruction in the Duke of Northumber- 
 land's attempt to set the Princess Mary aside and to 
 put Lady Jane in her place. He had married the 
 Duke's eldest daughter ; he had been the royal 
 boy's closest companion, and he must have been 
 present when the young King was persuaded to 
 leave the crown away from his sisters. Indeed we 
 are told that Edward died in his arms. He wisely 
 took no part in the events that followed, but retired 
 with his wife to his house at Penshurst in Kent. 
 There on November 29, 1554, Philip was born. He 
 was sent to Oxford before he was fifteen ; from 
 Oxford he went to Cambridge ; when he was eighteen, 
 having learnt, if we are to believe his biographers, 
 everything that could be taught him in England, he 
 began his travels in Europe. The first place at 
 which he stopped was Paris, where the French King, 
 
390 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Charles IX., professed to be so much pleased with 
 him, that he made him one of his gentlemen-in- 
 waiting. Very soon afterwards took place the 
 dreadful slaughter of the Protestants in Paris, known 
 as the Massacre of St. Bartholomew.^ Philip had a 
 narrow escape, but saved his life by taking refuge in 
 the house of the English ambassador, Sir Francis 
 Walsingham. Walsingham's daughter Frances after- 
 wards became his wife. After three years of travel 
 he returned to England, and soon became one of the 
 first favourites at Court. He was exceedingly hand- 
 some, and had most gracious manners ; he was 
 learned, he could speak the three chief languages 
 of Europe, French, Spanish, and Italian ; he was a 
 good dancer and a fine musician, and he wrote verses 
 which, then at least, every one admired. It was the 
 fashion, as I have said, to flatter the Queen, and to 
 speak of her as the wisest, the best, and the most 
 beautiful of women. Philip Sidney did this, which 
 seems to us rather absurd, very well, and the Queen, 
 who at fifty was as vain as she could have been at 
 fifteen, spoke of him as "her Philip." But the young 
 man was a great deal more than a clever courtier. He 
 was sent more than once as an ambassador to transact 
 important business, and he did it with the utmost 
 discretion. A man of twice his age could not have 
 1 August 24, 1572. 
 
THE PERFECT KNIGHT 
 
 391 
 
 been more prudent. It was truly said of him that 
 " from a child he started into a man, without ever 
 being a youth." 
 
 How wide was his reputation may be seen from 
 the fact, that in 1585 he was named among the 
 
 GENTLEMAN AND IIIS ATTENDANTS. 
 
 competitors for the crown of Poland. The Poles 
 used to elect their own King, a plan which sounds 
 reasonable enough, but actually worked very badly ; 
 for as the choice had to be unanimous, there was 
 nothing for it but for the majority to put the minority 
 
392 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 to death. Elizabeth did not like to lose the very 
 finest gentleman about the Court ; perhaps she did 
 not think the place was good enough for him ; possibly 
 she was jealous of him. Anyhow she refused to let 
 him compete for the honour. 
 
 In 1586 he joined the English army which Elizabeth 
 sent in that year to help the Protestants of Holland 
 against Philip II. The Low Countries, once the 
 possession of the Dukes of Burgundy, now belonged 
 to Spain, and the people had been fighting for many 
 years for their liberty, especially the liberty to hold 
 the Reformed faith. They were at this time in great 
 straits. Philip had taken the city of Antwerp and 
 conquered much of the country, and he had pro- 
 cured that the great leader of the Dutch, William of 
 Orange, should be assassinated. Queen Elizabeth, who 
 had before allowed her subjects to help the Dutch, 
 now openly took their part^ she saw that she and 
 they had a common enemy in Philip of Spain, and 
 that if she allowed them to be destroyed the turn of 
 England would come next. So she sent 7000 
 men under the command of the Earl of Leicester, 
 who was son of Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 
 and so Philip Sidney's uncle. Sidney was already 
 in the country, for in 1585 he had been sent 
 as Governor to Flushing. In July of the next year 
 he joined Maurice of Nassau in attacking the 
 
THE PERFECT KNIGHT. 393 
 
 Spaniards, and some weeks later the united forces 
 of English and Dutch besieged the town of Zutphen 
 in the province of Guelderland. The Spanish com- 
 mander sent a convoy of provisions for the town, and 
 a force of English cavalry was sent to intercept it. 
 Philip Sidney with various young noblemen and 
 gentlemen went with it as volunteers. It was a 
 fogg}^ morning, and for a time nothing could be seen, 
 only the wheels of the waggons in which the pro- 
 visions were carried could be heard. Then the sun 
 came out, and the Englishmen saw that the convoy 
 was well guarded. There were 3000 Spaniards in all, 
 among them some of the best of the Spanish cavalry 
 and spearmen. The Englishmen, overmatched as 
 they were, did not hesitate for a moment. They 
 charged the enemy, the young Earl of Essex leading 
 them, broke through the lines of the Spaniards, and 
 then, turning round, charged them again. Philip 
 Sidney's horse was shot under him in this second 
 charge. He mounted another and rode on. Mean- 
 while the convoy which they were trying to capture 
 went on getting nearer and nearer to the town, for the 
 English, with their scanty numbers, could not stop 
 it. Then Sidney and his companions charged a 
 third time, and this time he got as far as the town 
 itself. Then he was hit by a musket-ball on the leg 
 above the knee. Commonly this part would have 
 
394 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 been protected by armour, but Sidney had put off 
 his cuisses, or thigh-pieces, because a companion, an 
 older man than himself, had none to wear. The ball 
 made a bad wound, breaking the bone of the thigh. 
 Sidney rode back to camp, for he could no longer 
 manage his horse in battle. As he went along, he 
 asked for a drink of water. When it was given him, 
 he saw, while raising it to his lips, a dying soldier who 
 looked at the cup with eyes of longing. He handed 
 the water to him with the words, " Thy necessity is 
 greater than mine." 
 
 It was not thought at first that the wound was 
 mortal. Very likely, had the surgeons of that day 
 been as skilful in treating wounds as are the surgeons 
 of ours, he might have lived. But this was not to 
 be. He lingered for rather more than a fortnight, 
 dying on October 17, 1586. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE GREAT ARMADA. 
 
 King Philip of Spain had long been waiting to 
 make his great attempt on England. He had an old 
 dislike for the country, which he knew did not love 
 
THE GREAT ARMADA. 395 
 
 him. And he had received many provocations, the 
 
 
 plundering, for instance, of his towns and fleets 
 described in ch. xviii., and now the help given to his 
 
396 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 rebellious subjects in the Low Countries. I have 
 already related how Drake pounced down upon his 
 stores of ships and other things and destroyed them. 
 Even then Elizabeth had hopes that the peace might 
 be kept. She was still very sparing of her money, 
 starving both her armies and her fleet. She did not 
 want to believe that the Spaniards would come, and 
 she persuaded herself, as people often can, to believe 
 what she wished to be true. Even her ministers were 
 deceived, and her ambassadors told that there was 
 nothing to fear. 
 
 As a matter of fact there was very much to fear, 
 and it is impossible to say what might have happened 
 if Philip, on his part, had not been as disposed to 
 delay as she was to disbelieve. He was waiting, he 
 thought, till everything was quite ready, so that 
 success would be quite certain ; but he really was 
 waiting, though he did not know it, till the moment 
 of success had gone by for good. The Armada — so 
 the great fleet that Philip had been slowly gathering 
 together was called — was ready to sail at the beginning 
 of May ; it did not sail till the end of that month, 
 and it was two months more before it came in sight 
 of the English coast. There were 130 vessels, many 
 of them very large, carrying more than 20,000 soldiers 
 and a number of priests. Philip's plan was that the 
 Armada should sail up the Channel till it reached 
 
THE GREAT ARMADA. 397 
 
 the coast of Flanders, where the Duke of Parma had 
 collected an army of 60,000. This army, joined by 
 the soldiers carried by the Armada itself, was to be 
 taken across the Channel. If this could be done, 
 there was nothing in England that could even pretend 
 to meet it. Happily for us the plan broke down. 
 
 The English preparations were begun very late, 
 but once begun they were made with plenty of zeal. 
 The English navy did not number more than some 
 thirty vessels, but the great cities furnished many more. 
 The city of London was to have fitted out fifteen, and 
 it sent thirty-three. There was the same zeal shown 
 in other places. Seamen flocked in from all the 
 coast, till at last there were nearly 200 vessels. They 
 were smaller than the great Spanish ships, but they 
 were well armed, well manned, and well commanded. 
 It was no unequal match after all, though the Queen 
 had put off making her preparations dangerously 
 long. She had actually ordered the fleet to be 
 dismantled at the very moment when the Armada 
 was about to sail. Lord Howard, the chief admiral, 
 happily refused to obey. 
 
 Drake was playing bowls with some of his lellow- 
 captains on the Hoe at Plymouth when a small 
 merchant vessel came into the harbour with news 
 that the Spanish fleet had been sighted off the Lizard. 
 The great seaman would not show any disturbance. 
 
39^ STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 *' There is time," he cried, "to finish the game, and 
 to beat the Spaniards too!" Yet he knew that 
 things were in bad plight. The English fleet was in 
 harbour, and if the Spaniards found them still there, 
 might easily be destroyed by fire-ships.^ All night 
 the officers and seamen were hard at work getting the 
 ships out of harbour. This done they sailed westward 
 along the coast, and in the afternoop of the next day 
 sighted the Armada. It was coming up the Channel 
 in the shape of a crescent, its huge ships bright with 
 gilding and paint. It was not wholly made up of 
 ships intended to fight. "Truly, I think, not half of 
 them men-of-war," Drake wrote to the ministers in 
 London. This being so the Spanish admiral did not 
 mean to have a great sea-battle. He would sail on 
 straight to where the army of Flanders lay, and then 
 fight if necessary in carrying it across the Channel. 
 On the other hand, the English were very anxious 
 to have the battle, and the greater the better. If the 
 Spaniards contrived to do what they wanted, and 
 join their allies and countrymen in Flanders, things 
 would be looking very badly for England. So they 
 kept as close as they could to the rear of the Spanish 
 
 1 A fire-ship is a vessel, generally old and of little value, 
 which is filled with fuel, taken as near as possible to the fleet 
 of the enemy, and then left by its crew in such a way that it is 
 likely to get among them and set them on fire. 
 
 I 
 
THE GREAT ARMADA. 399 
 
 fleet, and tried to provoke the enemy into fighting. At 
 last one of the great ships turned upon its pursuers. 
 Drake, who was in front of the EngHsh, attacked it ; 
 others of the Spaniards came to its help. They 
 suffered not a little from the English cannon, but 
 none of them were sunk or taken. At night the 
 Armada went on its way eastwards. Drake was for 
 attacking ; Lord Howard was for waiting till he could 
 join the other English squadrons. Drake did his 
 best to get his way by going against the chief 
 commander's will, but did not succeed. Two of the 
 great Spanish ships, however, fell into the hands of 
 the English. This was on Monday, the first fighting 
 having been on Sunday, July 31. On the Wed- 
 nesday there was fighting again, the two fleets being 
 now near Portland. The Spaniards were no match 
 for their nimble enemies, and though they did not 
 lose more than three ships, they began to feel very 
 much out of heart. What was nearly being a great 
 battle took place on the Thursday near the Isle of 
 Wight, and if the weather had remained calm the 
 English, who had much the best of the situation — in 
 those days, before steam was used, it was everything 
 to have the wind in one's favour — might have won a 
 signal victory ; but a strong breeze sprang up, and the 
 Spaniards got out of their difficulties. On the Friday 
 there was no fighting ; on Saturday the Armada had 
 reached Calais, and was within a few miles of its 
 
400 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 journey's end. The Spanish army were at Dunkirk, 
 some thirty miles away, and the Dutch ships, which 
 had been blockading the harbour of that town, had 
 been obliged to go away to g^t fresh stores. 
 
 Something had to be done, and done at once, and 
 it was determined to try fire-ships. Eight vessels 
 were picked out — there were no old and worthless ones 
 to use, so good ships had to be sacrificed, and Drake 
 offered his own — and sent down against the enemy. 
 As fire-ships they failed, that is, they did not set any 
 of the Spaniards on fire. Still they did what was 
 wanted. The enemy, terribly frightened lest the fire- 
 ships should come among them, cut their cables in 
 haste and tried to escape. In a short time they 
 were scattered, and then the English attacked. In 
 vain did the admiral try to bring them back and form 
 them into line. Drake and his fellow-captains, 
 Hawkins and Frobisher, and others less famous, fell 
 on them as they were, divided and unable to help 
 each other. After a while Lord Howard, who had 
 been engaged with one of the biggest Spaniards, 
 came up, and the fight went on more fiercely than 
 ever. Such fighting had never been seen before at 
 sea. The English ships moved far more quickly 
 than their foes, and they were far superior, as has 
 been said, in their cannon, but the Spaniards, over- 
 matched as they were, fought bravely on. At the 
 end of the battle — it lasted for some nine hours, going 
 
THE GREAT ARMADA. 401 
 
 on until the morning of Tuesday, August 9 — the 
 Spaniards had lost twenty-four out of the forty ships 
 which had been attacked. It seemed likely that the 
 rest would be driven ashore, for the wind was blowing 
 strongly from the north-west. Then at the last 
 moment it suddenly changed to the south-west, and 
 what remained of the Spanish ships were saved, at 
 least for the time. They bore up to the north, and 
 though Lord Howard and Drake and the other 
 captains followed them for a while they never came 
 within shot again. They had other reasons, too, 
 for giving up the chase. The Queen had been sadly 
 mean about furnishing the fleet with provisions, and 
 some of the sailors actually died of want. And then 
 the weather had broken up, and it was necessary, 
 especially with ships which had been more or less 
 damaged with fighting, to get into shelter. 
 
 But for the Spaniards there was no shelter, while, 
 as they had no pilots, they knew nothing of the seas 
 over which they were sailing. Some of the ships 
 were driven on to the coast of Norway, and there 
 perished. The commander of the Armada himself 
 was wrecked on one of the Orkney Islands. Of those 
 that managed to get through the stormy and dangerous 
 seas of the North of Scotland many perished on the 
 Irish coast. The people had no mercy on the 
 strangers, though they were of the same faith, the 
 Reformed doctrines having made no progress in 
 
402 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Ireland, but either killed them on the shore, or sent 
 them as prisoners to England. They did not know 
 or care what they were, but having first plundered 
 them, either killed or made prisoners of them, just 
 as they thought would be most profitable. Of the 
 134 ships that had left Spain only fifty-three returned; 
 of the 30,000 soldiers and sailors, only a third part. 
 
 And what, we may ask, was Queen Elizabeth doing 
 all this time t As soon as the Spanish fleet had been 
 sighted, signals had been sent by fire throughout 
 England, that all the soldiers should be mustered. 
 The chief camp in the south of England was at 
 Tilbury Fort, on the Essex shore of the Thames 
 nearly opposite Gravesend. The Earl of Leicester 
 was in command, and the Queen went down herself 
 to review the army. We can hardly call it an army, 
 for the men for the most part were not soldiers. 
 Since the beginning of Elizabeth's reign there had 
 been little fighting on land, and few of the men who 
 assembled at Tilbury could have seen any service. 
 They were full of zeal, however, and courage. Elizabeth 
 rode through their ranks on a white horse, wearing a 
 steel breast-plate, and holding in her hand the 
 truncheon of a field-marshal. She made a speech to 
 the army, of which the last words were these, " I 
 know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman, but 
 I have the heart and stomach of a King of England." 
 
 Lord Leicester died on September 14. 
 
A FAVOURITE. 403 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 A FAVOURITE. 
 
 We have heard how at Zutphen, where Sir Phih'p 
 Sidney was, the charge was led by the young Earl of 
 Essex. He was a gallant young fellow, hot-headed 
 and foolish indeed, and extravagant, but yet with 
 much that was good in him. Unhappily he was 
 spoilt by bad friends ; the Queen herself, with her 
 changeable ways, now petting him, now showing 
 herself displeased with him, did not do him any good. 
 What was worst of all, he could not control his own 
 temper. 
 
 At Zutphen he was only nineteen, only twenty 
 therefore when, in the year after, the Queen put him 
 in command of the cavalry at Tilbury Fort. She 
 liked to have him in attendance on her, for he was 
 handsome and clever, and with fine manners, though 
 he was sometimes violent in speech and action, as 
 when, for instance, he fought a duel with a rival 
 courtier, a certain Sir Charles Blunt. Sir Charles 
 wounded him in the knee. The Queen, hearing of it, 
 
404 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 seemed rather pleased than offended. Essex, she 
 said, needed some one to take him down, otherwise 
 there would be no ruling him. 
 
 In the year after the Armada, when there was an 
 expedition to help a certain Don Antonio, who hoped 
 to take Portugal from King Philip, Essex ran away from 
 Court to join the fleet. The Queen, who was much 
 vexed, sent one Robert Carey after him with a letter, 
 in which she said that "his sudden and undutiful 
 departure from her presence and his place of attend- 
 ance " was very offensive to her. Carey w^as not in time 
 to catch him. He had already embarked. The expe- 
 dition did nothing of any importance, for the Portu- 
 guese had no particular liking for Don Antonio, but 
 Essex distinguished himself by his courage, being the 
 first to leap ashore when there was a landing on the 
 Spanish coast. This, however, was a fault which 
 Elizabeth did not find it difficult to forgive. It was 
 not so when she found that he had secretly married 
 the widow of Sir Philip Sidney. She could not bear 
 that any of her favourites should think of any one 
 but herself. He was still in disgrace when some 
 English soldiers were sent to help one of the French 
 parties against the other. Again he secretly left the 
 Court to have his share of the fighting. Of this 
 indeed, he seemed never to have enough. He was 
 foremost in every attack ; his young brother Walter 
 
A FAVOURITE. 405 
 
 was killed at his side. He challenged a French 
 
 THE EARL OF ESSEX. 
 
 Admiral to a duel ; and he took up a position so 
 much in advance of his general's line that he was in 
 
4o6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 great danger. The Queen did not like that he should 
 risk his life in this way, and yet was proud of the 
 courage which he showed. Still, as she refused to 
 send the help which she had promised while he 
 remained where he was, he thought it best to come 
 home. Elizabeth gave him a hearty welcome, and 
 seemed to forgive him for all his offences against her. 
 In 1596 he commanded the army in an expedition 
 against Spain, and took the town of Cadiz in a very 
 gallant way. The Queen, however, was angry with 
 him for allowing the soldiers to have the plunder of 
 the place ; she thought that it ought to have been 
 kept for her, or, at least, for her to divide as she 
 thought best. Again Essex lost her favour, but he 
 seems to have got it again the next year, when she 
 made him Earl Marshal. In 1598 Lord Burleigh 
 died ; the Queen missed him much, and so did 
 Essex. The two had been often at variance. Bur- 
 leigh was for peace with Spain, if it were possible, 
 and Essex for war. Once, it is said, when they had 
 grown hot disputing this question, Burleigh drew a 
 Prayer-book out of his pocket and showed the young 
 man this text — " Bloodthirsty and deceitful men 
 shall not live out half their days." But Burleigh 
 had a great regard for him, and often served him 
 with the Queen. Most of the courtiers looked at him 
 with jealousy and even hatred. 
 
A FAVOURITE. 407 
 
 In 1598 there came the worst quarrel of all, if 
 indeed the story is true. There was a dispute as to 
 the proper person to be put in some office in Ireland. 
 The Queen set herself against the man whom Essex 
 recommended, and at last he became so angry that 
 he turned his back upon her. This piece of rudeness 
 so provoked her that she gave him a box on the ear. 
 He put his hand to his sword, and when the Lord 
 Admiral stepped between him and the Queen, he 
 declared that he would not have put up with such an 
 insult from Henry VIII. himself, and left the Court 
 in a furious rage. Again, however, he was received 
 with favour, or what seemed like it. In 1599 he was 
 sent to Ireland as Lord Deputy. Of course it was 
 an honour, but a very dangerous one. The country 
 was most difficult to manage, and certainly wanted 
 more prudence and good temper in its ruler than 
 Essex had ever shown. 
 
 In Ireland everything went wrong. Essex was as 
 brave as a man could be, but he was not a general. 
 He could not defeat the Irish rebels ; perhaps no one 
 could have done so. Accordingly he tried to make 
 peace, and sent over to England the terms which he 
 thought ought to be given. The Queen and her 
 counsellors were furious, thinking them far too good 
 for the Irish. No one now can say who was in the 
 right. Ireland, after all, did belong to the Irish, and 
 
4o8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 they asked only for what had been their own. But 
 then there w^ere many English settlers in the country, 
 and there would have been an end of them if the 
 Irish had prevailed. 
 
 Essex's enemies, of course, were busy. They even 
 said that Essex was thinking of becoming King of 
 Ireland by help of the rebel Irish and of Spain. The 
 Queen sent him an angry letter, and he, on receiving 
 it, left Ireland at once, in order, as he said, to see the 
 Queen, and defend himself before her from the 
 slander of his enemies. When he got to London he 
 found that she was not there, but at her palace at 
 Cheam, called Nonsuch. He hurried down there, 
 and almost forced his way into the Queen's chamber. 
 She had not long risen from her bed, and was being 
 dressed by her women. He fell on his knees before 
 her, and covered her hand with kisses. She seems to 
 have been kind to him, though no one knew what 
 she said. Anyhow, when he left the room, he 
 seemed to be content with the way in which she had 
 received him, and was in good spirits. But after- 
 wards she turned, or was turned by others, against 
 him, and when a gentleman whom he had knighted 
 came to pay her his respects, she showed a great 
 deal of anger. " I am no Queen," she cried. " That 
 man sets himself above me. Who gave him command 
 to come hither so soon, when I sent him on other 
 
A FAVOURITE. 409 
 
 business ? " Later in the day he saw her again, but 
 then she showed him no kind of favour, told him 
 that he must not leave his house, and that he would 
 have to answer for his conduct before the Council. 
 
 All this happened in the winter of 1599. About six 
 months afterwards he was tried in an irregular sort of 
 way. He confessed that he had made great mistakes 
 in the conduct of the war, but solemnly affirmed that 
 he had never had any treason against the Queen in 
 his thoughts. In the end she pardoned him, but 
 gave him to understand that he was not yet restored 
 to favour. 
 
 If he had been content to be patient all might 
 have ended well. But patient he never was and never 
 could be. He saw that his enemies were powerful 
 with the Queen, and that they persuaded her to do 
 what they pleased. He was honestly convinced that 
 many things which they did were not for the good of 
 the country, and that if he were in their place, he 
 could give better advice. Then he was greatly in 
 debt, and was very angry to find that he was not to 
 have any longer a very profitable monopoly, as 
 it was called. A monopoly was the privilege of selling 
 something which other people were not allowed to 
 sell. Of course any one who had the privilege could 
 raise the price, not exactly as high as he chose, but 
 so high as to make large profits. Essex's monopoly 
 
4IO S7VRIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 was of a kind of wine. He grew more and more 
 angry and discontented, and began to talk in a very 
 violent way, saying, for instance, "that the Queen 
 grew old and cankered, and that her mind was 
 become as crooked as her carcase." 
 
 At last he broke out into open violence. He had 
 been called to attend the Council, and had answered 
 that he was not well enough to come. The Lord 
 Chief Justice and some other great persons came to 
 warn him not to break the law. He brought them 
 into his house, and locked them up. This done, he 
 went out into the street, followed by a number of 
 friends, in the hope that the citizens would rise in his 
 favour. The streets were empty, for the Lord Mayor 
 had ordered that every one was to remain at home. 
 One of the sheriffs, whom he knew to be his friend, 
 he could not find. Sadly disappointed, he went back 
 to his house, and found that his prisoners were gone. 
 
 Meanwhile the heralds had been sent into the city 
 to proclaim Essex a traitor, to offer a reward of 
 ^1000 for his head, and pardon to such of his fellows 
 as should at once make their peace with the Queen. 
 Soon afterwards Essex's house was surrounded by 
 soldiers ; on the promise of a fair trial he surrendered, 
 and was taken to the Tower. 
 
 The trial took place before a number of peers, some 
 of whom were certainly Essex's enemies. He was 
 
A FAVOURITE. 41 1 
 
 not allowed to object to them, because they were not 
 sworn, but gave their verdict on their honour. I need 
 not describe the trial. He was of course found 
 guilty, and indeed he had done much more than had 
 been enough to bring about the condemnation of 
 others. No one doubted that he would be sentenced 
 to death ; the question was whether the Queen would 
 suffer him to die. For some time she could not make 
 up her mind. Essex's enemies did their best to keep 
 up her anger against him. They repeated, perhaps 
 they made up, foolish things that he had said against 
 her. But she could not forget that she had once 
 loved him. There is a story, which has been denied, 
 but which is probably true, that in former days she 
 had given him a ring which he was to send to her 
 when he was in great need. She expected to receive 
 it, and he did send it. It went by mistake to the 
 wrong person, and this person wilfully kept it back. 
 The Queen was provoked that it never reached her, 
 and the fierce temper which belonged to her family 
 was -roused to a worse rage than ever. Essex was 
 found guilty on the 19th of February, the Queen 
 signed his death warrant on the 23rd, and he was 
 executed two days later. 
 
 It was a cruel act, because it was not in any way 
 necessary. The Queen could not have believed that 
 she was in any danger from him. It was not long 
 
412 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 before she began to reproach herself. After all she 
 had loved the man, and when he was gone she began 
 to find it out. She had many sad thoughts when she 
 died, but none more sad than the memory of the 
 foolish, brave Essex. She died on March 24, 1603, 
 in her seventieth year. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
 If I had followed strictly the order of dates I 
 should have written about Walter Raleigh before I 
 wrote about the Earl of Essex or even about Philip 
 Sidney ; for he was two years older than Sidney, and 
 fifteen years older than Essex. But it is more 
 convenient to put his story here. Raleigh had to 
 wait much longer than the other two before he began 
 to rise in the world. He fought and fought bravely 
 in France, in the Low Countries, and in Ireland, but 
 he was still nothing more than a private gentleman 
 at thirty, though E^ssex, as we have seen, commanded 
 the English cavalry when he was but twenty. Then 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 
 
414 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 came Raleigh's chance. There is no reason to sup- 
 pose that the story is not true, though we do not find 
 it in print till more than thirty years after his death. 
 It is very like what we might expect from him and 
 from the Queen. 
 
 Elizabeth — it is thus the story goes — had to pass 
 over some muddy spot, and stopped a moment in 
 doubt. Raleigh, who was wearing that day a new 
 plush cloak, at once stripped it off his shoulders and 
 threw it down in front of the Queen. She passed on, 
 not forgetting to notice the young man who had 
 been so ready with his politeness. Not long after- 
 wards he wrote on a window where he knew the 
 Queen would see it this line — 
 
 " Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall." 
 
 Elizabeth added underneath — 
 
 " If thy heart fail thee, climb not at all." 
 
 Raleigh took the hint, and climbed. He got up 
 quickly enough. Of wealth he had plenty. The 
 Queen gave him money and lands, not indeed of her ' 
 own — of them she was very sparing — but belonging 
 to other people. For instance, she made a college or 
 a bishop grant him the lease of an estate at a very 
 low rent ; he could let it again, and take the differ- 
 ence. When Antony Babington was found guilty of 
 plotting against the Queen, part of his property was 
 
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 415 
 
 handed over to Raleigh. Then he had monopolies 
 of wine and cloth. Finally, though he did not get 
 much profit out of them, he had lands in Ireland. 
 
 If he got money quickly, he spent it freely. We 
 read of a gentleman being tried for stealing a hat- 
 band of pearls belonging to "Walter Rawley" — his 
 name was spelt in twenty different ways — worth 
 £^0. This indeed is nothing compared to other 
 stories told about him. One writer of the time says 
 that he wore £6000 worth of jewels in his shoes. 
 There is a tradition that he had a court dress that 
 cost ;^6o,ooo. But he did not spend all his money 
 in this foolish way. He would gladly have done as 
 Drake did, and gone voyaging himself in those 
 "Western Seas," where the Englishmen of that day 
 were so fond of seeking for riches and fame. But the 
 Queen would not let him go. So he fitted out ships, 
 and sent others to seek adventure and profit in his 
 stead. Two started in April, 1584, and five months 
 afterwards came back with some fine pearls and furs 
 and other things, together with two natives. The 
 land they discovered was called " Virginia," ^ after 
 the Virgin Queen. It was Elizabeth herself who 
 invented the name. Other expeditions were sent out 
 and were not so successful. In fact they all failed, 
 
 ^ It was not the region now called Virginia in the United 
 States, but part of North Carolina. 
 
4i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR V, 
 
 and it seemed as if all the lives and the money that 
 were spent in them had been thrown away. But it 
 was not so ; he set an example, and at last, and that 
 in Raleigh's lifetime (1606), the colony was really 
 founded. 
 
 When there was fighting to be done Raleigh was, 
 as we may suppose, ready enough to take his share, 
 and he fought as gallantly as any man in the battles 
 with the Armada. In 1592 he got into trouble. 
 The cause was the same as that which again and 
 again made Elizabeth angry with her favourites. He 
 presumed to love some one else. She sent him to 
 the Tower. He was not kept there very long. In 
 September the privateers which he and others had 
 fitted out to take Spanish shipping brought home a 
 splendid prize, the " Great Crown of Portugal Carack," 
 as it was called, named the Madre di Dios. She had 
 a most valuable cargo of spices, ebony, tapestries, silks, 
 and all manner of precious things. The pepper alone 
 was reckoned to be worth ;^ 1 02,000. Raleigh was 
 let out of prison, that he might help in dividing the 
 spoil, about which there was, as usual, a great deal of 
 quarrelling. 
 
 In 1595 he actually did what he had often been 
 thinking of — sailed for the Western Seas. Just six 
 weeks — not a long time in those days — took him 
 across the Atlantic. He reached Trinidad, burnt 
 
S/J^ WALTER RALEIGH. a^i-j 
 
 down a newly-built Spanish city, and then with a 
 couple of boats made his way up the Orinoco. He 
 had various adventures and saw many curious things, 
 which are good to read about, but of which I cannot 
 write in this place. One of his experiences was to 
 make a friendship with an old chief one hundred and 
 ten years of age. He did not gather much treasure, 
 but he made sure that the land which he had found 
 was full of gold and silver, and he fully intended to 
 visit it again. One thing that pleased him, and that 
 we are glad to read, was that he was on quite friendly 
 terms with the natives. In August he was back in 
 England. He did not bring back a great store of 
 treasure ; without that, discovery was not much 
 thought of in those days. People too laughed at his 
 traveller's tales, but we know now that there was a 
 great deal of truth in them, and that when he says a 
 thing as of his own knowledge he is to be believed. 
 He did not stop long at home. In the June of the 
 following year (1596) he was with Lord Essex in the 
 taking of Cadiz. He was wounded badly in the leg 
 during the sea-fight, in which indeed he thrust his 
 ship into the very foremost place. This wound pre- 
 vented him from being at the plunder of the town. 
 He complained that his part of the spoil was " a lame 
 leg and deformed " ; . . . that while others were 
 enriched he had " nought but poverty and pain." 
 
 E E 
 
41 8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 He had, as a fact, nearly £2QQQ, which would be 
 equal to about seven times as much in our time. 
 But then the heroes of that day were almost as 
 greedy as they were brave. 
 
 I shall pass quickly over the rest of the time 
 between this and the Queen's death. Raleigh was 
 now again in favour with her ; as he rose, Essex fell ; 
 who was right, who was wrong in the lamentable 
 quarrel between them we need not ask. When 
 Essex died, Raleigh was there. Some one says that 
 he came unasked ; but then he was Captain of the 
 Guard, and it was probably his duty to be present. 
 
 With the Queen's life Raleigh's good fortune came 
 to an end. King James did not like him, why it is 
 not easy to say, except that the favourites of one 
 sovereign seldom please his successor. All monopolies 
 were recalled — a good thing, except that they would 
 soon be given again to other people. This greatly 
 reduced Raleigh's income. Then his place of Captain 
 of the Guard was taken from him. He still used to 
 come to Court, but it was made quite clear that he 
 was not welcome. In July he was arrested, kept at 
 first in his own home, and then sent to the Tower. 
 The charge against him was, of course, high treason, 
 in that he had plotted to put Arabella Stuart on the 
 throne. This lady was the granddaughter of Mar- 
 garet Tudor, sister of Henry VIH., and so of royal 
 
S/M WALl'RR RALEIGH. 419 
 
 descent. Elizabeth, who did not h'ke James, had 
 sometimes talked of naming her as her successor. 
 Nothing Hke real proof of this accusation was brought 
 forward. It is likely that there had been some such 
 plot, and Raleigh may have talked foolishly, but that 
 was all. 
 
 At the last moment his life was spared. This was 
 in December, 1603. For more than twelve years, that 
 is, up to March, 1616, he was kept in prison. There 
 was one person at least who wondered that such a 
 thing could be done. This was Prince Henry, the 
 King's eldest son. " Who but my father,' he said, 
 ''would keep such a bird in a cage.?" The Prince 
 even made his father promise to release him. But 
 he died, and for a time Raleigh's hopes were at an 
 end. 
 
 At last he got his libert}^ He was to go again to 
 the country which he had visited twenty years before, 
 and get possession for the King and his courtiers of 
 some of the riches which he had seen there. But he 
 was not pardoned. That was to depend upon whether 
 he succeeded or not. He did not succeed. Every- 
 thing seemed to go against him. He met with storms 
 on his way. When he reached Guiana he himself fell 
 sick of a fever, and was very near to death. Then he 
 started for the great gold mine, where he hoped to 
 find the wealth for which he was seeking. But the 
 
420 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Spaniards were prepared for his coming. They 
 thought that he had no business in the New World, 
 believing that it all belonged to them. A battle 
 followed, and Raleigh's son Walter was killed. As 
 for the mine, they never reached it. If they had, they 
 certainly would not have found what they expected. 
 You do not find gold lying in a mine, as it lies in the 
 drawer of a bank, and something of this was what they 
 hoped to see. All that they did get was the plunder 
 of a Spanish town, worth some ;^iooo. Really it was 
 worth far less than nothing to Raleigh, for King 
 James desired above all things to be good friends 
 with Spain, and here he had sent a prisoner out 
 of the Tower to burn one of the King of Spain's 
 towns ! 
 
 There is no need to say much more. A few days 
 after he got back to England he was thrown into the 
 Tower. He had had no pardon for the crime of which 
 he had been found guilty before, and new charges 
 were brought against him. There was a sort of trial. 
 But long before the King had made up his mind 
 to kill him. And kill him he did. On the morning 
 of Friday, October 29, 161 8, Walter Raleigh was 
 beheaded. 
 
A LITTLE ROMANCE. 421 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ALITTLEROMANCE. 
 
 King James had not, indeed, an excuse, but a reason 
 for putting Raleigh to death, in this, that he greatly 
 desired to be on friendly terms with Spain. It 
 makes one quite ashamed to see how an English 
 King disgraced himself. As soon as the English 
 ambassador at Madrid heard that Raleigh had been 
 beheaded, he hurried to tell the King, who, he wrote 
 back, " showed much contentment with the hearing." 
 One of the English ministers wrote to the ambassador, 
 telling him to make as much as he could out of the 
 matter. He was to let King Philip ^ understand that 
 James had caused Sir Walter Raleigh to be put to 
 death chiefly to give him satisfaction ; he was to dwell 
 on what a very clever man Raleigh was, and how 
 much he might have done for his King and country, 
 and so prove to the Spanish King that he ought to 
 be very grateful. What could be more shameful 
 than that a King of England should make a merit 
 1 Philip III., son of Philip II., who died in 1598. 
 
422 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 with a foreign ruler of having put to death one of his 
 most useful subjects simply to please him ? The 
 King of Spain wrote him a letter of thanks with his 
 own hand, and that was all the payment he got. 
 But he hoped to get much more, especially one thing 
 on which he had set his heart. What this was I 
 shall now show. 
 
 King James' eldest son, Prince Henry, died in 1612. 
 Some five years afterwards it was thought well to look 
 about for a wife for Prince Charles (born 1600), who 
 was now heir to the throne. James would have liked 
 a Spanish better than a French princess, but the 
 Spanish King, Philip III., never liked the idea, and no 
 • wonder, for the last Spanish princess that had come to 
 England, Katharine of Aragon, had been very unhappy. 
 But Philip III. died in 162 1, and his son, Philip IV., 
 seemed more favourably disposed. Indeed, an agree- 
 ment was come to that Charles should marry the Infanta 
 Maria, sister of the King. She was to be at liberty 
 to worship God in the way to which she was accus- 
 tomed. James also promised that the Roman 
 Catholics in England should not be persecuted any 
 more. If they gave assurance of their being loyal 
 subjects, they were to be let alone. But then 
 difficulties began to arise. There was a dispute about 
 the dowry which the Infanta was to have when she 
 was married, and another about the time of the 
 
A LITTLL ROMANCE. 
 
 423 
 
 marriage. The Spaniards too, backed up by the 
 Pope, wanted to secure better terms for the Roman 
 
 
 
 
 
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 THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 Cathoh'cs in England ; King James, who had already 
 given great offence to his subjects by what he had 
 
424 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 done, was unwilling to do any more. Another thing 
 about which they differed was, what was to be done 
 with a certain Frederick, a German Prince, who had 
 married the King's daughter Elizabeth. He was the 
 sovereign of certain provinces on the Rhine, and had 
 been elected King of Bohemia, but had lost that 
 kingdom and his own possessions. James hoped to 
 get the Spaniards to restore them to him. 
 
 And now some one suggested the idea that Prince 
 Charles should go himself to Madrid. He might 
 see the Infanta, and perhaps settle the matters in 
 dispute with her brother. It has been said that the 
 idea first came from the Spanish ambassador. But 
 the man that had most to do with it was a certain 
 George Villiers, younger son of a country knight, who 
 had become a great favourite with both the king and 
 the Prince, and had by this time been made Marquis 
 of Buckingham. It was not very easy to get the 
 King's consent. He was afraid, he said, that he 
 should lose *' Baby Charles " — this was his pet name 
 for his son. At last he gave way, and the two young 
 men — Buckingham was just eight years older than 
 the Prince — started on their journey, calling them- 
 selves Mr. Smith and Mr. Brown. They went by 
 way of Paris, and saw the Royal family, among them 
 the Queen, who was the sister of the Queen of Spain, 
 and Henrietta Maria, whom he was afterwards to 
 
A LITTLE ROMANCE. 425 
 
 marry. In France the proposed marriage was not 
 liked — nor, indeed, was it in England — and the 
 travellers were warned that they had better hurry on, 
 lest they should be arrested. They got safely across 
 the frontier, and reached Madrid without any mishap. 
 They went to the Ambassador, who was not a little 
 surprised to see them. Charles was introduced to 
 the King, and the two were very friendly. But for 
 the present, he was told it was not possible that he 
 should be allowed to speak to or even come near the 
 Infanta. But he could see her when she was taken 
 out for a drive. 
 
 Then there came an entry in state. Charles rode 
 at the King's right -hand, with a canopy held over 
 his head. At the palace he made what we may say 
 was a " call " on the Royal family. The King and 
 the Queen were there, the two brothers of the King, 
 and the Infanta. But they had to talk through an 
 interpreter, for the Spanish royalties never spoke any 
 language but their own, at least in public. When 
 Charles did manage to get a few words in French 
 with the Queen, she told him that he would not be 
 allowed to marry the Infanta, and that he had better 
 give up the idea, and think of her sister Henrietta, 
 whom he had seen in Paris. 
 
 Charles, however, was not going to own himself 
 beaten. He determined to see the Infanta a little 
 
426 STORIES FROM ENGLISH RISIVRY. 
 
 closer, and finding out that she used to go in the 
 early morning to a certain orchard, scrambled over 
 •the wall and presented himself before her. Both she 
 and her attendants were terribly frightened, and the 
 Prince found that he had come to no purpose. 
 
 In the end nothing came of the treaties and the 
 courtship. It was a bit of romance and nothing 
 more. The Pope, whose leave was wanted before the 
 marriage could take place, asked more than King 
 James was willing to grant, in the way of giving 
 religious liberty to the Roman Catholics. King 
 James, on the other hand, demanded that Spain 
 should help the husband of his daughter Elizabeth, 
 the Elector Frederick, who was a Protestant, to get 
 back his dominions. King Philip refused to do this, 
 and thought it an insult that he should have been 
 asked. In the end the affair was broken off. Prince 
 Charles and his Spanish hosts parted on what seemed 
 to be very good terms. He gave them some hand- 
 some presents, among them a diamond ornament for 
 the Infanta, and received as much or more from them. 
 Several of the Spanish grandees accompanied him to 
 the ship when he embarked, and soon afterwards he 
 landed at Portsmouth, to the joy of his countrymen. 
 But really there was much angry feeling on both sides. 
 The Duke of Buckingham, especially, was greatly 
 offended, and is said to have told the Spanish Minister 
 
KING OR PARLIAMENT? 427 
 
 that he would be even with him. The nation was 
 greatly relieved to find that there was to be no Spanish 
 match, and urged the King to declare war with Spain. 
 Buckingham became a popular favourite ; and there 
 were bonfires and rejoicings when the King unwill- 
 ingly consented. The House of Commons voted the 
 sum of ^^"300,000 for carrying it on. The very next 
 year war with Spain was declared, and the year after 
 James died. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 KING OR PARLIAMENT } 
 
 It would take very long, and would bring us into 
 a number of very difficult subjects, to explain the 
 causes of what is commonly called "The Great Rebel- 
 lion," the war between the Parliament and the King. 
 King James, and King Charles after him, tried to 
 rule more absolutely than the English people were 
 willing to endure. Elizabeth, it is true, was always 
 fond of having her own way, bpt she knew when she 
 
428 STORJES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY 
 
 had to yield. This was exactly what King Charles 
 did not know. This was one cause of his troubles ; 
 another was the bad advisers whom he had about 
 him. 
 
 The worst of these was his wife, Queen Henrietta 
 Maria. I have already described how he courted a 
 Spanish princess, and how the match was broken off. 
 On his way to Spain he had passed through Paris. 
 When the Princess Henrietta, youngest daughter of 
 King Henry IV., heard the story of his adventures, 
 she said, " The Prince of Wales need not have gone 
 so far as Madrid to look for a wife." The Queen of 
 Spain herself another daughter of King Henry's 
 had told him that he had better think of her sister 
 Henrietta. This time the Prince did not go courting 
 in person. He sent his portrait, and King James his 
 father sent ambassadors. The Princess was very 
 much pleased with the likeness, and the ambassadors 
 made an agreement by which too much was yielded. 
 So the Princess became Charles's wife, and, as I have 
 said, proved to be a very bad adviser. 
 
 His other counsellors were not much wiser. These 
 were more honest men than those whom King James 
 had about him, but they were more unpopular. 
 Foremost among these was Archbishop Laud, a 
 learned and pious man indeed, but who offended 
 many people both by his conduct and his opinions. 
 
KING OR PARLIAMENT? 429 
 
 The worst piece of advice given to the King — and 
 
 CHARLES I. AND ARMOUR BEARER. 
 
 it was all the more harmful because it fell in with his 
 own ways of thinking — was that he should try to 
 
430 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 govern without a Parliament, Three Parliaments 
 were called together during the years 1625 — 1629, 
 and quickly dissolved, because they would not do 
 what the King wished. Then for eleven years, 1629 
 — 1640, there was no Parliament, the King raising 
 money by ways that were against law, or, if not 
 actually against law, had been out of use for so 
 long that they seemed to be so. In 1640 the 
 Parliament called the Long Parliament met. Some 
 things that it did were right and necessary, some were 
 doubtful, some clearly beyond its powers. Very 
 likely it would have been more moderate than it was 
 if the King could have been trusted to keep his word. 
 Unfortunately he could not. Anyhow, things went 
 on from bad to worse. It was on August 22, 1642, 
 that the war began. On that day the King set up his 
 standard at Nottingham. 
 
 At first the Royalists, as the King's party are com- 
 monly called, were stronger than their adversaries. 
 The larger part of England was with them. We may 
 say that every town and every village was divided ; 
 even in families there were some that took one side 
 while others took the other; but generally the west 
 of England took the King's part and the east took 
 the Parliament's. A recent writer says, " Roughly 
 speaking, a line drawn from Hull to Weymouth would 
 divide England into a large Royalist half, and a 
 
KING OR PARLIAMENT? 431 
 
 smaller Parliamentarian half, as things were just after 
 the war had begun. The extreme north was for the 
 King, but Lancashire favoured the Parliament." Lon- 
 don was for the Parliament, and had a great deal to 
 do with its final success. It must be remembered that 
 there was no regular army, and that only few English- 
 men had had any experience of soldiering. Some had 
 taken service with foreign princes or countries. Most 
 of these were on the Royalist side, and generally 
 King Charles's men were better suited for soldiers than 
 their adversaries. In one thing they were certainly 
 superior, they knew better how to ride, for most of 
 the latter came from the towns. On the other hand, 
 the then London militia, or " train -bands " as they 
 were called, had some discipline and practice in arms. 
 The most experienced general on either side was 
 Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of the Earl of 
 Essex who was put to death by Elizabeth. He had 
 seen a good deal of service on the Continent. He 
 fought for the Parliament, yet after all he did not dis- 
 tinguish himself very much. On the Royalist side 
 the best was the King himself, and the worst, that is 
 the one who did most harm. Prince Rupert, the King's 
 nephew (he was the son of his sister Elizabeth). He 
 was brave — no one could have been braver — but he 
 was hot-headed, and had no power of seeing the 
 whole of a battle. While he was pushing his own 
 
432 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 success he would let everything go wrong elsewhere. 
 The man who really won the victory in the end for 
 the Parliament was Oliver Cromwell. And now for 
 a short description of the war. 
 
 From Nottingham the King moved westward to 
 Shrewsbury, where his party was very strong. Having 
 enlisted many soldiers he marched towards London. 
 Lord Essex was waiting for him at Worcester, but 
 the King avoided him, and he had to follow on 
 as quickly as he could. At Edgehill, one of a range 
 of hills that divide Warwickshire from Oxfordshire, 
 the two armies met. What happened then was to 
 happen again and again during the war. The King's 
 cavalry was nearly as strong in numbers as his 
 infantry, and far stronger in fighting power. Prince 
 Rupert with his horsemen charged Lord Essex's 
 cavalry and easily broke them. Carried away by 
 excitement, he pursued the flying enemy for miles, 
 and then came back to find that the King's infantry 
 had been defeated, losing the Royal Standard and all 
 the artillery. Some of Essex's cavalry under Oliver 
 Cromwell, who now distinguished himself for the first 
 time, had kept their order, and had made them- 
 selves useful in pursuing Charles's beaten infantry. 
 On the whole, however, the Royalists had the best 
 of the day, for the King was able to march towards 
 London. Essex did the same, and though he was 
 
KING OR PARLIAMENT? 433 
 
 obliged to take a longer course, got there before him. 
 At Turnham Green, some six miles to the west of 
 London, the City train-bands were guarding some 
 earthworks. The King did not venture to attack them, 
 and drew back to Reading, and afterwards to Oxford. 
 
 The conflict at Edgehill was the only pitched 
 battle of the year, but there was a good deal of fight- 
 ing elsewhere. The Parliament showed itself strong 
 in the east, the Royalists prevailed in the north and 
 west. 
 
 In June, 1643, the Parliament lost one of its best 
 and ablest leaders. John Hampden was mortally 
 wounded in a skirmish with some Royalist horse that 
 had come out of Oxford, where the King had fixed 
 his head-quarters. He died six days afterwards. In 
 July the Royalists won two victories in Wiltshire, and 
 on the 26th of that month they got possession of 
 Bristol, after London the largest town in the king- 
 dom. A little later the King laid siege to Gloucester. 
 At this time (August, 1543) he was probably stronger 
 than he ever was again. 
 
 The Parliament felt that they must not lose Glou^ 
 cester, which was a very important place, on account 
 of the bridge over the Severn, and Lord Essex was 
 ordered to march to its relief When he approached 
 the King raised the siege, but posted himself so as 
 to intercept the Earl on his way back to London. A 
 
 F F 
 
434 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 battle was fought at Newbury in Berkshire. In this 
 the London train-bands distinguished themselves, 
 standing firm against the fiercest charges of Rupert's 
 cavalry. The King was not exactly defeated, but 
 finding that his army was short of gunpowder, he left 
 his position in the night, and made his way to Oxford. 
 For the rest of the year there was no fighting of 
 importance. 
 
 Both parties now began to look for help elsewhere. 
 The Parliament applied to the Scotch. There were 
 many skilful and experienced soldiers, men who had 
 served in the wars on the continent, among the 
 Scotch, and their help therefore was very valuable. 
 The King, on the other hand, sent over to Ireland for 
 the troops that had been fighting with the rebels 
 there. It was even arranged that some of the rebels 
 themselves should come. As it turned out, the Irish 
 did more harm than good. Their coming made the 
 English people very angry, and they were soon 
 defeated. But when the Scotch joined the army of 
 the Parliament things went very differently. The 
 Royalists in the north could make no head against 
 them, and the Earl of Newcastle, who was in command 
 of them, sent to the King for help. Charles sent his 
 nephew. Prince Rupert, with a large force of cavalry, 
 and the two armies met on July 2nd, at Marston 
 Moor, near York. There were about 27,000 men on 
 
KING OR PARLIAMENT? 435 
 
 the side of the Parliament, while the King's army 
 numbered about 3000 less. As was always the 
 custom in those days, both sides had their infantry in 
 the middle of the line, their cavalry on the two wings. 
 And now there happened what had never happened 
 before. Prince Rupert's cavalry charged, but charged 
 in vain ; for a few minutes indeed their adversaries 
 wavered, but it was only for a few minutes. They 
 had some Scottish infantry to support them, and in a 
 very short time they recovered their ground, and 
 drove Rupert and his men before them. Here again 
 Cromwell distinoruished himself; it was he who was 
 in command of the Parliament horse. PVom this 
 time there could be no doubt as to what the end of 
 the war would be. The King's strength was in his 
 cavalry, and when they were beaten his cause was 
 really lost. In another part of the field things went 
 differently. Lord Goring charged Sir Thomas Fair- 
 fax, and broke his line. As usual, the Royalists 
 pursued the enemy too far, without thinking of helping 
 their friends. When they came back to the field, 
 they found that the battle was lost. The King's 
 army was indeed quite broken up. Prince Rupert 
 managed to get a few thousand men together, but all 
 the north of England was now in the power of the 
 Parliament. 
 
 Still the war was not over. The King marched out 
 
436 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 of Oxford, following Lord Essex, who had gone in 
 hopes of bringing over the south-western counties to 
 the cause of the Parliament. Essex was driven into 
 Cornwall, and in the end lost the greater part of his 
 army. Another battle, in which neither side gained 
 much advantage, was fought at Newbury. This was 
 on October 17. During the rest of the year 1644 
 nothing of importance happened. 
 
 On June 14 in the next year came the last battle 
 of the war. It was fought at Naseby in Northampton- 
 shire. Again Prince Rupert, who seems to have 
 always lost his head as soon as he drew his sword 
 charged the opposite line, broke it, and pursued the 
 fugitives. He even began to plunder the baggage. 
 When he came back the battle was lost. Cromwell 
 with his " Ironsides," as the horsemen whom he had 
 himself trained were called, defeated the Royalist 
 cavalry, and then fell upon the infantry. When 
 these began to waver, the King, who was close by, 
 made ready to charge at the head of his own body- 
 guard. Those who were with him would not allow 
 it. Lord Carnwath, a Scotch nobleman, who was 
 riding by his side, laid his hand upon his rein, saying, 
 " Sire, would you go to your death } " And Charles 
 unwillingly turned back. Perhaps it would have 
 been better for him and for England if he had gone 
 on, even though it was to his death. 
 
KING OR PARLIAMENT? 437 
 
 Nothing was now left to the King but a few towns 
 in various parts of England, where his garrisons still 
 held out. He himself was at Oxford. But it soon 
 became manifest that Oxford was not a safe place for 
 him to live in. The Generals of the ParHament 
 prepared to besiege it, and the King saw that if he 
 did not wish to be made a prisoner he must go. 
 
 On April 27 he rode out of the city with two 
 companions, one of them a clergyman, who, like 
 many clergymen in those days, had turned himself 
 into a soldier, the other a gentleman whose servant 
 the King pretended to be. He wore indeed a servant's 
 dress, and had his hair cut short in the fashion 
 followed by those who followed the side of the 
 Parliament. The party began by riding towards 
 London, and got as far as Harrow-on-the-Hill. The 
 King, it is said, had thoughts of entering the city and 
 throwing himself on the mercy of his adversaries. 
 But having got so far he changed his mind, and rode 
 northward till he came to Newark, where the Scot- 
 tish army was encamped. There he gave himself up. 
 He knew that there were matters in dispute between 
 the Scotch and the Parliament, and he hoped to turn 
 these to his own advantage. But he was disappointed. 
 The Scotch began by demanding terms which the 
 King could not possibly yield. They wanted him to 
 change the order of the Church ; there were to be no 
 
438 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 more bishops. The King was quite firm. On this the 
 Scotch determined to surrender him to the Parliament. 
 They bargained that if they did this they were to 
 have their arrears of pay, ^^400,000, paid them. Many 
 people said that they had sold their King. And 
 indeed what they did was something like it. He was 
 actually given up on January 30, 1647 ; two years 
 afterwards he was dead. The Queen, whose youngest 
 child, named Henrietta after her, was born in Exeter 
 in June, 1644, fled from that city a fortnight after the 
 birth of her baby, made her way to Falmouth, and 
 thence crossed over to France. Her' vessel was 
 nearly taken by an English cruiser. The Queen 
 commanded the captain to blow up his ship sooner 
 than let it fall into the hands of the enemy. But 
 just at the last moment — a shell had already struck 
 the vessel — a French squadron came in sight, and the 
 cruiser gave up the pursuit. Even then she was 
 not safe. A gale sprang up, scattered the squadron, 
 and drove the Queen's vessel on to the rocks. 
 The passengers, however, escaped to land without 
 injury. 
 
 The baby had been left behind. There is an 
 interesting story of how, two years afterwards, she 
 was brought to her mother in France by the lady 
 into whose charge she had been given. The Parlia- 
 ment resolved to take her away from this lady — she 
 
IN WESTMINSTER HALL. 439 
 
 was the wife of Lord Dalkeith, — and the faithful 
 woman, sooner than suffer this, made up her mind to 
 escape with the child. She dressed herself up in a 
 shabby cloak and gown, made herself look deformed 
 by fastening a hump of rags on one shoulder, and put 
 a ragged suit of boy's clothes on the little Princess. 
 She walked all the way from Oatlands, which is 
 about twenty-five miles from London, to Dover, 
 carrying the child on her back. The chief danger of 
 being discovered came from the little Princess her- 
 self. She did not like the shabby dress which she 
 wore, nor the name of Pierre by w^hich she was 
 called, and she told every one whom they met on the 
 road that she was not Pierre, but a princess, and 
 these dirty rags were not her own clothes. Fortun- 
 ately no one understood her baby talk, and the party 
 reached France safely. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 IN WESTMINSTER EI ALL. 
 
 There were two parties among those who were on 
 the side of the Parliament. Some hoped that the 
 King might be compelled to rule better ; others were 
 
440 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 resolved to get rid of kings altogether, and now 
 came the time for the latter to prevail. We shall see 
 this from what happened on December 5, 1648; There 
 had been now for nearly two years, ever since the 
 Scotch gave Charles up to the Parliament, many letters 
 passing backwards and forwards, and many confer- 
 ences, between the Parliament and the King. At last, 
 on the day mentioned above, the House of Commons, 
 after a debate which lasted all the night, resolved 
 that " the King's concessions to the Parliament are a 
 sufficient ground for settling the peace of the king- 
 dom." But this did not suit the views of Cromwell 
 and the other leaders of the army. They sent down 
 soldiers the next day to take possession of the way 
 into the House. These soldiers were under the com- 
 mand of a certain Colonel Pride. He had a list of 
 members who were known to favour the King, and 
 as any of these came up to the House, he was seized 
 by the soldiers and led away. This business was 
 called " Pride's Purge." The House of Commons 
 was " purged," as Cromwell and his friends said, of 
 those who were not really in earnest. 
 
 About three weeks afterwards the House, or what 
 was left of it, resolved that as " Charles Stuart had 
 acted contrary to his trust in setting up his standard, 
 he should be tried." On January i it voted that 
 Charles Stuart had been guilty of high treason, 
 
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 TRIAL OF CHAKLES I. IN WESTMINSTER HALL, 
 
IN WESTMINSTER HALF.. 443 
 
 and on the 19th of the same month the judges that 
 were to try him were called together. More than a 
 hundred judges had been named, but many of them 
 did not come. When the name of Lord Fairfax was 
 called, a voice from the gallery called out, " He has 
 more wit than to be here ; " and when afterwards the 
 clerk said, " By the authority of Parliament, and of 
 all the good people of England," it cried again, " No, 
 nor the hundredth part of them." 
 
 The next day the King was brought before the 
 judges, who sat in hat and cloak. A chair of crim- 
 son velvet was put for him ; he sat down without 
 removing his hat. The accusation that he had brought 
 great troubles upon the kingdom was then read. 
 When one of the lawyers was about to speak, the 
 King laid his staff gently on his shoulder, as if to bid 
 him be silent. He did it again, and the gold head of 
 the staff dropped off. The King was seen to grow 
 pale. 
 
 " You are expected," said the President, " to make 
 an answer to this charge." 
 
 King. " By what authorit}- am I brought here } " 
 
 President. " By authority of the people of Eng- 
 land, whose elected King you are." 
 
 K. " The Monarchy of England has been for 
 nigh two thousand years by inheritance, not by 
 election." 
 
444 STORJES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 P, " 'Tis well known that you have misused this 
 trust. The court must proceed.'* 
 
 K. " I have been brought here by force. This is 
 no Parliament, for I see no House of Lords ; nor can 
 there be a Parliament without a King." 
 
 This was repeated many times, the President 
 requiring that the King should plead, the King 
 refusing. As he walked out of the court some 
 shouted " God save the King ! " others " Justice ! 
 Justice ! " 
 
 The same thing happened on the second and two 
 following days. On the fifth the trial went on. 
 Witnesses were called to testify that the King had 
 set up his standard, and that various acts of war had 
 been committed by him. The sixth day was oc- 
 cupied in the same way. On the seventh the King, 
 on coming in, demanded to be heard. The President, 
 answering that he should be allowed to speak before 
 sentence was pronounced, went on to say that the 
 Court was agreed that the charges brought against 
 Charles Stuart had been proved. This done, he said 
 to the King, "If you question our right to try you, 
 we will not hear you ; but if you desire to defend 
 yourself, then you may speak." 
 
 The King said that he had something to say to 
 the Lords and Commons, and desired that he might 
 be allowed to speak to them. His judges, of course, 
 
IN WESTMINSTER HALL. 445 
 
 he refused, as before, to acknowledge. The President 
 would not allow what he asked, and proceeded to give 
 sentence. "The Court adjudge that Charles Stuart, 
 as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and a public enemy, 
 shall be put to death by the severing of the head 
 from the body." 
 
 K. " Will you hear me a word ? " 
 
 P. " Sir, you are not to be heard after sentence." 
 
 K. " No, sir } " 
 
 P. " No, sir ; by your favour, sir. Guard, with- 
 draw your prisoner." 
 
 K. " By your favour, sir, hold the sentence." 
 
 Then, finding it all useless, he cried, " I am not 
 suffered to speak. Expect what justice others will 
 have." 
 
 Some of the soldiers as he passed them treated 
 him rudely, blowing the smoke from their pipes in his 
 face. This was not, however, the temper of all. One 
 soldier cried " God bless the King ! " his officer struck 
 him with a cane. The King said, " Methinks that 
 the punishment is greater than the offence." 
 
446 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL. 
 
 The King was condemned on January 27. On 
 the 29th he took leave of the two of his children that 
 were in England — the Princess Elizabeth, who was 
 then thirteen years old, and the Duke of Gloucester, 
 who was but eight. There had been some talk of 
 making the boy King, so that the chiefs of the Par- 
 liament might rule in his name (his two elder brothers 
 were not in England). Charles took the child on his 
 knee, and said to him, " Sweetheart, now will they 
 cut off thy father's head." The boy looked at him 
 very earnestly. He went on, '' Heed, my child, what 
 I say ; they will cut off my head, and perhaps make 
 thee a king. But mark what I say : you must not 
 be a king so long as your brothers Charles and 
 James live ; therefore I charge you, do not be made 
 a king by them." *' I will be torn in pieces first," 
 said the boy. He made the boy promise that 
 he would never consent to be king while his elder 
 
THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL. 447 
 
 brothers were alive. Then giving them some jewels, 
 the only riches, he said, he could bestow on them, he 
 sent them away. Dr. Juxon, Bishop of London, was 
 with him till late. When the Bishop had gone, he 
 spent two hours more in meditation and prayers. 
 The gentleman who was with him related that 
 that though he himself could not sleep, the King 
 slept quietly for four hours. About five in the 
 morning — " two hours before dawn " — the King 
 opened his curtain and called to him. " I will get up," 
 he said, " for I have a great work to do this day " ; 
 and shortly after, "This is my second marriage day; 
 I would be as trim to-day as may be, for before night 
 I hope to be espoused to my Lord." He then chose 
 the clothes that he would wear, taking care to have 
 an extra shirt, for he said, " The season is so sharp 
 as may probably make me quake. I would not have 
 men think it fear ; I fear not death. I bless God I 
 am prepared." 
 
 After this he gave directions for certain books 
 which he wished to be distributed, a Bible among 
 them, with notes written by him in the margin, which 
 he wished the Prince of Wales to have. 
 
 Bishop Juxon now came to read and pray with him. 
 The Bishop read the 27th chapter of St. Matthew's 
 Gospel, which contains the story of the Crucifixion 
 of Our Lord. The King wanted to know whether 
 
448 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 he had chosen it. " May it please your Majesty," 
 he answered, " it is the proper Lesson for the 
 day." 
 
 The officer who had been sent to fetch him to 
 the place of execution now knocked at the door. 
 " 'Tis time,", he said, " to go to Whitehall, where 
 your Majesty may have some further time to rest." 
 For a short time the King was left by himself; then, 
 taking the Bishop by the hand, he said, " Let us 
 
 go." 
 
 The way to Whitehall — it was at St. James's Palace 
 that he had been since his coming to London — was 
 lined on either side by soldiers. The drums were 
 beaten without ceasing, so that it was scarcely possible 
 to hear what was said. 
 
 The scaffold had been made outside one of the win- 
 dows in Whitehall Palace, near the Banqueting Hall, 
 looking westward on to what is now Parliament Street. 
 The people were so far off that the King, perceiving 
 that his voice could not reach them, said what he had 
 to say to the gentlemen about him. He justified 
 what he had done; at tlie same time he forgave his 
 enemies. One of his gentlemen touched the edge of 
 the axe. "Hurt not the axe," said the King, ''that 
 may hurt me." The Bishop then begged him to 
 say something about religion. " I die a Christian," 
 said the King, " according to the profession of 
 
G G 
 
THE WINDOW IN WHITEHALL. 451 
 
 the Church of England, as I found it left by my 
 father." 
 
 He begged the officer to take care that he was not 
 put to pain, and twice warned the gentlemen near that 
 they should not hurt the axe. To the executioner he 
 said, " I shall say but short prayers, and then stretch 
 forth my hands." 
 
 ** There is but one stage more," said the Bishop. 
 " This stage is turbulent and troublesome, but you 
 may consider it will convey you a very great way — it 
 will carry you from earth to heaven," 
 
 The King answered, " I go from a corruptible 
 crown to one incorruptible, where no disturbance 
 can be." 
 
 The scaffold was hung with black, and in the 
 middle stood a block, with an axe leaning against it. 
 Two men with masks on their faces stood by. The 
 King put his hair into the cap which he had on 
 his head, the Bishop and the executioner helping 
 him. Then he knelt down and laid his head upon 
 the block. The executioner severed it with one 
 blow. The other masked man took it up, and cried 
 in a loud voice, " This is the head of a traitor ! " 
 A great groan was the answer. 
 
 Whether the king deserved to die or not, it is 
 certain that i^; was a great error to kill him, an error 
 
452 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 which put back the cause of freedom in England 
 by many years. 
 
 " He nothing common did or mean 
 Upon that memorable scene, 
 But with his keener eye 
 The axe's edge did try ; 
 
 Nor called the gods with vulgar spite 
 To vindicate his helpless right, 
 
 But bowed his comely head 
 
 Down, as upon a bed." 
 
BOOK III. 
 
 FROM THE LORD PROTECTOR TO QUEEN VICTORIA. 
 
CHAPTER T. 
 
 THE LORD PROTECTOR. 
 
 When the war between the King and the Parlia- 
 ment was brought to an end, there was no man whose 
 name stood so high in the estimation of the nation as 
 Oliver Cromwell. And, indeed, he had done more 
 than any one else to win the victory for the Parlia- 
 ment. Again and again he and his Ironsides — for this 
 was the name which men gave to the cavalry which 
 he commanded — had turned the fortune of the day. 
 He and they were terribly in earnest. " Our enemies," 
 he had once said, " have the spirit of gentlemen ; 
 we must match it with the spirit of religion." The 
 war finished, there was a great question as to what 
 was to be done with the King, and Cromwell had 
 much to do with deciding it. He strongly urged that 
 Charles should be brought to trial, and, if found 
 guilty, should be put to death. When this had been 
 
456 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 done, men began to ask how the country was to be 
 governed. For the time Parliament had the power, 
 by Parliament being meant the House of Commons 
 only, for the House of Lords had been abolished. 
 But the army was not satisfied. It had won the 
 victory, and it was not willing to be ruled by men 
 who had done nothing, it was said, but talk. As 
 it had been the Parliament against the King, so it 
 was now, or would soon be, the army against the 
 Parliament. We shall soon see how the struggle 
 ended. 
 
 The first thing to be done was to make Ireland 
 submit to the new order of things. Cromwell was 
 appointed Lord Lieutenant and Commander-in-Chief, 
 and took with him an army of 12,000 men. The war 
 that followed was carried on with dreadful cruelty. . 
 Some years before the Irish had rebelled and mas- 
 sacred thousands of English settlers, men, women, 
 and children. Cromwell and his army were deter- 
 mined to have vengeance for these things, and at 
 the same time to make it impossible for the Irish 
 to rebel again. At Drogheda, and again at Wex- 
 ford, thousands of people, peaceable inhabitants as 
 well as soldiers, were put to death. To this day the 
 most hateful of all names to an Irishman is that of 
 Cromwell. 
 
 He had not altogether finished the work of con- 
 
THE LORD PROTECTOR. 457 
 
 quering Ireland, before he was called away to Scot- 
 land. The Scotch people had been displeased with 
 the course of affairs, and had sent for the eldest son 
 of Charles I., himself a Charles, who was then living 
 in Holland. If he would consent to make certain 
 promises, to follow the Presbyterian form of religion, 
 and to govern by the advice of Parliament, they would 
 make him king. Charles consented, though these 
 conditions were not much to his mind, and crossed 
 over from Holland to Scotland. Cromwell and his 
 friends felt that this must not be allowed to go on. 
 It was useless to have put an end to kings in Eng- 
 land, if they were to be set up again in Scotland. 
 Cromwell crossed the border, this time with sixteen 
 thousand men. He threatened Edinburgh, but was 
 compelled by the manoeuvring of Leslie, the Scotch 
 commander, to retire to Dunbar. There was some 
 fighting before dawn on September 3 (1650). The 
 English ca\alry were driven back, and a regiment of 
 infantry, which had advanced to support them, was 
 broken. The time was come for Cromwell to act. An 
 officer who was present with the English army writes : 
 " The sun rising upon the sea, I heard Noll say, * Let 
 God arise and let His enemies be scattered.' " He gave 
 the word to his own regiment of infantry to advance. 
 They levelled their pikes and moved forward, the 
 Scottish cavalry retreating before them. At that 
 
458 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 moment the mist which covered the country Hfted, 
 and the Scots saw their cavalry falHng back. A 
 panic seized the whole army — they were raw soldiers, 
 few of whom had ever seen a battle — the men threw 
 down their arms and fled. Three thousand were 
 killed, ten thousand taken, with all the baggage and 
 artillery. 
 
 !%^ 
 
 A GUNNER, SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 But another battle had to be fought. Charles, who 
 had been crowned king on January i, 165 1, re- 
 solved to make his way into England, and try his 
 fortune there, hoping that a number of Royalists 
 would join him. About twelve thousand Scottish 
 soldiers went with him, and he reached Worcester 
 without much difficulty. But his hopes of getting 
 
THE LORD PROTECTOR, 450 
 
 support from his English friends were sadly dis- 
 appointed. Not more than three or four thousand 
 men joined his army. His force, all told, was little 
 more than half that of the enemy. The Scots 
 fought bravely in the battle that followed, and 
 Charles himself showed no little skill as a general. 
 But Cromwell, with his army of veterans, both better 
 disciplined and superior in numbers, could not be 
 resisted. The Royalists were utterly defeated, with 
 the loss of three thousand killed, and twice as many 
 taken prisoners. How Charles himself escaped I shall 
 tell in my next chapter. The battle of Worcester 
 was fought exactly one year after the battle of 
 Dunbar. 
 
 The man who had conquered Ireland and Scotland, 
 and had destroyed the last hopes of the Royalists 
 in England, was, of course, more powerful than 
 ever. It was not long before the Parliament found 
 that he was their master. Sir Henry Vane had intro- 
 duced a bill which Cromwell disliked. On April 20, 
 1653, he went down to the House of Commons, fol- 
 lowed by a company of musketeers. He listened to 
 the debate. When it seemed to be coming to an end, 
 he whispered to Thomas Harrison, an old comrade, who 
 sat by him, " This is the time I must do it," and rose 
 to address the House. He began by praising it for 
 the good that it had done, but soon changed his tune. 
 
46o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The members had thought of their own interest only ; 
 they had refused to do justice ; they had oppressed 
 the people; above all, they had neglected the army. 
 The Speaker said that this was not the language that 
 ought to be used to Parliament ; it was all the worse 
 because it was spoken by that Parliament's own 
 servant, who had been made what he was by their 
 kindness. Cromwell put (^ his hat — he had taken it 
 off to speak — and cried, " Sir, I will put an end to 
 your prating." A few minutes after, he stamped his 
 foot on the floor, and called to the officer who com- 
 manded the musketeers, " Bring them in ; bring them 
 in." At once the door was opened, and Colonel 
 Wolseley with some twenty soldiers entered. After 
 reproaching various members with their misdeeds, 
 Cromwell bade the soldiers clear the House. Harrison 
 took the Speaker by the hand and led him down from 
 the chair. Some of the members left the House of 
 their own accord, others were forced to go. When 
 the chamber was empty, Cromwell pointed to the 
 mace lying on the table : " Take away this bauble," 
 he said to one of the soldiers. He was now practi- 
 cally the ruler of England. 
 
 But he was not to have his way without opposition. 
 It was necessary to have a Parliament, and a Parlia- 
 ment, whatever pains he might take to have no 
 members but of his own way of thinking, was sure 
 
THE LORD PROTECTOR. 461 
 
 to set itself against him. An Assembly, known in 
 history by the name of the Little Parliament, was 
 called together. But it soon showed itself unwilling 
 to submit, and Cromwell had to call in his musketeers 
 again. On December 16, 1653, he had the title of 
 Lord Protector bestowed upon him, practically by the 
 army. 
 
 As time went on he became more and more arbi- 
 trary ; and, we cannot doubt, more and more unhappy. 
 He knew that he held a place which the will of the 
 English people had not given him. But it was a 
 place that he would not, indeed could not resign ; to 
 resign it, he was persuaded, would be to cause more 
 evils than to keep it. " 'Tis against the voice of the 
 nation," said one of his friends to him. " There will 
 be nine in ten against you." " But what," he answered, 
 " if I put a sword in the tenth man's hand } Will not 
 that do the business ? " 
 
 I pass quickly over this time. Cromwell professed 
 to despise the title of king. " The name," he said, 
 " is but a feather in the hat." As for the crown, it was 
 only '' a shining bauble for crowds to gape at or kneel 
 to." Yet it seems that he secretly desired it. But • 
 to take it would have offended friends whom he could 
 not afford to lose, and in the end he declared that he 
 could not accept the government with this title. 
 
 But he was again declared Lord Protector, and this 
 
462 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 time with more state and ceremony than before. In 
 December 1653 he had been dressed in a suit of dark 
 velvet, with long military boots, and a gold band 
 round his hat ; and the ceremony took place in the 
 Court of Chancery. Now, Westminster Hall itself 
 was used for the purpose. On June 26, 1657, a 
 splendid chair of state was set at the upper end. 
 Cromwell stood before it, while the Speaker of the 
 House of Commons put a mantle of purple velvet, 
 lined with crimson, about his shoulders, presented him 
 with a belt, richly gilt and embossed, girded him with 
 a sword, and put a sceptre of solid gold into his right 
 hand. 
 
 The troubles and difficulties through which he had 
 to pass at home did not prevent him from making 
 England greatly respected abroad. It was no time of 
 peace. At one time or another England was at war 
 with Holland, with France, with Spain, with Portugal, 
 and always, thanks to the energy of Cromwell, and 
 the courage and skill of his admirals and generals, she 
 held her own. 
 
 The most famous of his dealings with foreign 
 Powers was his interference on behalf of the Vaudois, 
 the Protestant inhabitants of the valleys of Piedmont. 
 The Duke of Savoy, who was the ruler of the coun- 
 try, had treated these poor people with much cruelty. 
 Cromwell, of course, could not help them directly, 
 
THE LORD PROTECTOR. 463 
 
 for they were far out of reach. But he refused 
 to conclude a treaty that was being negotiated with 
 the King of France, unless the latter should first 
 compel the Duke of Savoy to treat his Protestant 
 subjects with more justice; and this was actually 
 done. 
 
 At home, things went on from bad to worse. The 
 Lord Protector could not raise money without Parlia- 
 ments, and the Parliaments that he summoned always 
 turned against him. Then he was in constant fear 
 of assassination. It is said that he wore armour 
 under his clothes, and that he carried loaded pistols 
 about with him. When he went out, a large escort of 
 soldiers surrounded his carriage. It was never settled 
 beforehand by what road he \vould travel, and he 
 was careful not to return by the same way by which 
 he had come. 
 
 And he suffered a great loss in his private life. 
 The best loved of his children was his daughter 
 Elizabeth, the wife of a Northamptonshire gentleman, 
 named John Claypole. She died on August 6, 1658, 
 having first, it is said, entreated her father to lay 
 down the power of which he had unlawfully possessed 
 himself Cromwell felt her death profoundly, and 
 survived her but a few weeks. Removed from Hamp- 
 ton Court, where he had been suffering from ague, to 
 London, he became rapidly worse. For some days 
 
464 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 before his death he was barely conscious, but it is 
 said that when asked directly whether he did not wish 
 that his son Richard should be his successor, he 
 answered "yes." He died on September 3, his lucky 
 day, that on which he had won the battles of Dunbar 
 and Worcester. A few days before all England had 
 been shaken by such a storm of wind as had never 
 been within the memory of the oldest inhabitants. 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 THE * ROYAL OAK. 
 
 The young King Charles escaped from Worcester 
 city by the north road just as Cromwell's soldiers were 
 making their way into it on the other side. He would 
 hardly have got away had not some brave followers 
 made a desperate charge on the enemy, and so turned 
 away their attention. 
 
 By the advice of the Earl of Derby, another fugitive 
 from the battle,^ Charles resolved to seek refuge at 
 
 ^ Lord Derby was afterwards taken and executed. He had 
 submitted to the Parhament, and was therefore declared to be 
 guilty of treason. 
 
THE ROYAL OAK, 465 
 
 Boscobel, a house in Shropshire, belonging to a loyal 
 lady, Mrs. Cotton by name. Riding all night he 
 arrived at dawn at another of Mrs. Cotton's houses^ 
 called Whiteladies. His companions were Gifford, a 
 cavalier, and Yates, a labouring man who acted as 
 guide. At Whiteladies Charles put on the disguise 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 A CAVALRY ENCOUNTER. 
 
 which it was settled he should wear. He was to pass 
 as a woodman. His clothes were shabby and coarse ; 
 he carried a bill-hook in his hand : his hair was 
 cropped close to his head, and the skin of his face and 
 hands dyed brown. A little party of Royalists had 
 gathered at Whiteladies ; they took leave of tlie king, 
 
 H H 
 
466 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 as soon as he had completed his disguise, and rode 
 away in another direction, Charles, with his guide 
 Yates, going on to Boscobel. He had not been gone 
 more than an hour when some troopers belonging to 
 the enemy's army arrived, and after searching the 
 house in vain, started in pursuit of the fugitives. 
 
 Yates had married a woman of the name of 
 Penderell, and it was her brothers who now took 
 charge of the King. The Penderells were natives of 
 Tong, a village not far from Shifnal in Shropshire. 
 There were six brothers, three of whom had fought 
 for the King. One of these three was killed ; the 
 other two, John and George by name, were employed 
 as woodmen at Boscobel. A fourth, William, was in 
 charge of the house; a fifth, Humphrey, worked at 
 the mill in the parish ; the sixth, Richard, farmed a 
 few fields. They were Roman Catholics, and had 
 helped more than once to save priests of that faith 
 when in danger of being arrested. It was not thought 
 prudent that Charles should go to the house ; Richard 
 Penderell, accordingly, took him into the thickest part 
 of the wood, and made him lie down on a blanket 
 under one of the trees. Here Yates's wife brought 
 him some food. The sight of the woman startled 
 him. " Good woman," he said, " will you be faithful 
 to a distressed cavalier } " She declared that she 
 would sooner die than betray him. His next visitor 
 
THE ROYAL OAK. 467 
 
 was the mother of the Penderells. The old woman 
 kissed his hand, and falling on her knees thanked God 
 that He had chosen her sons to deliver their King 
 from his enemies. 
 
 It had been at first arranged that Charles should 
 make his way to London. A large city, where many 
 are coming and going every day, and where few know 
 anything about their neighbours, is always an excellent 
 place in which to hide. But now another plan was 
 proposed. Charles was to seek shelter among his 
 friends in Wales, make his way to the coast, and so 
 escape to France. He and Yates left Boscobel Wood 
 at nine in the evening, and reached the house of a 
 friend named Wolf, at'Madeley, at midnight. Madeley 
 is not far from the Severn ; they hoped to cross that 
 river, and then make the best of their way into Wales. 
 Wolf was afraid to take them into his house, where he 
 had no safe hiding-place ; there were two companies 
 of militia in the village ; to get across the Severn was 
 impossible, for all the fords and bridges were guarded. 
 Nothing was left but to return to Boscobel. It was 
 still thought dangerous to enter the house, and the 
 next day was spent by Charles and Colonel Careless, 
 a cavalier whom he found at Boscobel, among the 
 branches of the famous oak. The tree had been 
 lopped a few years before, and had thrown out a 
 very thick foliage. Charles and his companion saw 
 
468 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 soldiers pass near it more than once in the day. 
 Meanwhile, William Penderell and his wife Joan, 
 while seeming to be at work — he a woodman, she busy 
 in gathering sticks — kept watch. At night the fugitives 
 came down from the tree and took shelter in the 
 house. There was a secret chamber in it, and Charles 
 thought that he should be as safe there as anywhere. 
 His next move was to Moseley in Warwickshire (not 
 far from Birmingham). It was a journey of more than 
 twenty miles, and Charles, who was tired out with all 
 that he had gone through during the last few days, 
 was provided by Humphrey Penderell, the miller, with 
 a horse. The five brothers and Yates accompanied 
 the King, two walking before, t'wo behind, and one on 
 either side. Charles complained that the horse moved 
 very heavily. " Sire," replied Humphrey, " you do 
 not recollect that he carries the weight of three king- 
 doms on his back." 
 
 At Moseley a new plan was devised. A certain 
 Miss Lane, daughter of Colonel Lane, of Bartley, near 
 Walsall, had obtained a pass permitting her to visit 
 a relative near Bristol. Charles was to disguise him- 
 self as her servant. If he reached Bristol there would 
 be a good chance of finding a ship to carry him to 
 France. While he was at Moseley the search was 
 very hot, and a very careful watch had to be kept. 
 Whiteladies and Boscobel had been again searched, 
 
THE ROYAL OAK. 469 
 
 and now a troop of horse arrived at Moseley, and 
 arrested the King's host on the charge of having 
 fought at Worcester. He was able, however, to prove 
 by the testimony of his neighbours that he had never 
 left Moseley, and was released. That night Charles 
 rode to Bartley, where he was to take up his character 
 as servant. His dress up to this time had been a 
 leathern doublet, with coat and breeches of coarse 
 green cloth, so worn in places that it seemed to be 
 white, stockings much darned at the knee and with- 
 out feet, heavy shoes, and a grey steeple-crowned hat, 
 without band or lining. He now put on a neat suit 
 of grey, such as a groom might naturally wear, A 
 three days' journey took the party to their destination, 
 Abbotshill, a few miles west of Bristol. Here Charles 
 was recognized by the butler. The man was loyal, 
 however, and took the precaution of keeping out of. 
 the way two of his fellow-servants who were known to 
 have republican principles. But no way of escape 
 appeared, for no ship could be hired at Bristol, and 
 another move was necessary. 
 
 The next plan was to go to Trent, near Sherborne, 
 where a Royalist of the name of Windham resided. 
 A forged letter was delivered to Miss Lane, calling 
 her back to Bartley, where her father was said to be 
 at the point of death. She hurriedly departed, and 
 the King made his way to Trent. A ship was hired 
 
470 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 at Lyme Regis to cany a nobleman and his servant 
 to France — the nobleman was Lord Wilmot, while 
 Charles was the servant. Charles, however, was to 
 act the part of a young man eloping in a servant's 
 disguise with a young lady, whose part was played 
 by a Miss Juliana Coningsby. These two were to be 
 received at an inn at Charmouth, a seaside village 
 near Lyme. Again the scheme failed. The boat which 
 was to fetch the passengers from Charmouth never 
 appeared, the Lyme ship-master having repented of 
 his agreement. Charles returned to Trent, and his 
 friends tried to hire a ship at Southampton. This 
 they succeeded in doing, but the vessel was seized 
 to carry troops across to Jersey. A day or two after- 
 wards the King had to leave Trent, where there were 
 suspicions about his real character. His next refuge 
 was in a house near Salisbury. Here he lay in hiding 
 for five days. In the meanwhile a loyal gentleman. 
 Colonel Gunter by name, succeeded in hiring a vessel 
 from a loyal trader at New Shoreham. Charles made 
 his way with all speed to Brighton, where he sat down 
 to supper with Colonel Gunter, the trader, whose 
 name was Mansel, and the captain of the vessel, 
 whose name was Tattershall. The captain was 
 observed to watch the King very closely during the 
 meal. When it was over, he took the trader aside, and 
 complained that he had been deceived. The stranger 
 
THE ROYAL OAK. 471 
 
 in grey was the King. "I knew him," he said, "when 
 he commanded the fleet three years ago." The 
 master of the house also was aware of the quality of 
 his guest. As Charles stood with one hand resting on 
 the back of the chair, the innkeeper kissed the hand, 
 saying — " Doubtless if I live I shall be a lord, and 
 my wife a lady ! " 
 
 At four o'clock in the morning the next day, the 
 party went down to the shore. Here Tattershall fell 
 on his knees before the King, and vowed that what- 
 ever might happen, he would land him safely on the 
 coast of France. They embarked. When the ship had 
 weighed anchor, her head was put for Deal, to which 
 place she was bound. A little scene had been arranged 
 between Charles and the master. The King addressed 
 the crew, saying that he and his friend Wilmot were 
 merchants in distress, and flying from their creditors ; 
 would they join him in persuading the master to alter 
 his course and land them on the coast of France ? 
 He would give them twenty shillings for their trouble. 
 The men did as they were asked, and Tattershall, 
 after making some objections, took the helm, and 
 steered for the French coast. At day-break they 
 came in sight of land, the shore being Fecamp, which 
 was two miles distant. The tide was low, and not 
 being able to make the harbour, they cast anchor. 
 But a suspicious sail hove in sight. The master 
 
472 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 believed that it was a privateer from Ostend. This 
 was not the case — it was really a French hoy — but it 
 seemed safe to land the fugitives at once. The boat 
 was lowered, and Charles and Lord Wilmot were 
 rowed to shore. He had been traversing long dis- 
 tances for a long time, — not less than three hundred 
 and fifty miles in forty-four days^ — he had been in the 
 power of poor men, to whom the offered reward of a 
 thousand pounds would have been wealth beyond all 
 their hopes ; he had been recognized by several people 
 who had spared no pains to help him, but no one seems 
 even to have thought of betraying him. I shall have 
 to tell a very similar story, hereafter, of another Prince 
 of the same royal house. 
 
 1 From Sept. 3 to Oct. 14. 
 
SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 473 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 
 
 Every one would be very much astonished now-a- 
 days if a man who had never been even a midshipman, 
 perhaps had never been to sea, were appointed to the 
 command of a fleet. Yet this was what was done 
 when in 1649 Robert Blake was appointed, together 
 with two other officers in the army, to command the 
 fleet, and yet no one was surprised. Blake had 
 showed himself an excellent soldier,^ and that was 
 thought a good reason for supposing that he would 
 make an excellent sailor. 
 
 His first service was to blockade Prince Rupert in 
 Kinsale Harbour. War had ceasea everywhere in 
 Great Britain and Ireland, but the Prince was still 
 carrying it on by sea, somewhat in the fashion of a 
 pirate. Reduced to extremities by the blockade, he 
 had no choice but to attempt an escape. He took the 
 
 1 His chief service had been surprising the town of Taunton, 
 and holding it against the attack of Lord Goring till he was 
 relieved. 
 
474 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 opportunity of a strong gale of wind, and succeeded 
 in breaking out, but with the loss of three ships. He 
 sailed to Lisbon, and made his way up the river Tagus, 
 where he was under the protection of the King of 
 Portugal. Blake followed him, but was fired on from 
 the castle which commanded the river when he 
 attempted to come to close quarters. The King of 
 Portugal sent him a present of fresh provisions, with 
 a polite message, but begged him not to come higher 
 up the river, unless he should be compelled to do so 
 by bad weather. Before long Blake was, or pre- 
 tended that he was, so compelled, and came ; but he 
 anchored his ships a good way from Prince Rupert's, 
 and, for the time, contented himself with sending to 
 the King a statement of reasons why Prince Rupert 
 was not worthy of protection. The King still refused 
 to give him permission to attack, and Blake began to 
 seize Portuguese ships, both coming from Brazil — for 
 that country then belonged to Portugal — and going 
 thither. In September he took seven outward-bound 
 ships, and in October sunk or took eleven out of a 
 home-bound fleet of twenty-three, with a cargo of 
 10,000 chests of sugar. Prince Rupert now contrived 
 to get out of the Tagus, and made his way to Carta- 
 gena. Blake followed him thither, and asked the 
 governor of the city for leave to attack. The 
 governor referred the matter to Madrid, but while he 
 
SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 475 
 
 was waiting for an answer, the Prince escaped again, 
 and got into Malaga. Here Blake entered the harbour 
 without asking leave, and destroyed the whole 
 squadron excepting two, with which the Prince 
 escaped to the West Indies. English traders had 
 nothing more to fear from him. 
 
 But a more formidable enemy was at hand. England 
 and Holland were the chief trading nations of the 
 world, and there was, of course, much jealousy and 
 many quarrels between them. It is not easy to say 
 which was in the right. Even when the two fleets 
 fought, as they did before war had been regularly 
 declared, we do not know which was to blame. The 
 Dutch Admiral, Van Tromp by name, was told by the 
 Dutch Council to refuse to allow his ships to be 
 searched — the English had lately claimed the right to 
 do this — and to salute or not, as he thought best.^ Van 
 Tromp came over to the Downs (a place in which 
 ships lie at anchor between Dover and Deal), with 
 forty men-of-war. Blake, who had fifteen only, but 
 these of a larger size, came up from the westward to 
 meet him, and fired a gun, thus demanding a salute. 
 Van Tromp replied with a broadside. A regular 
 
 ^ The English claimed that in the Channel, as being their 
 own sea, their men-of-war should be saluted by strangers. (To 
 dip the flag was to salute.) Sometimes it was argued by the 
 Dutch that they had been accustomed to salute the King's flag, 
 and that the Commonwealth had no right to the compliment. 
 
476 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 battle began, and the English fleet was in danger of 
 being surrounded, when another squadron, commanded 
 by Bourne, came up. After four hours of fighting, 
 the Dutch lost two ships. This happened on May 
 19. For some months afterwards there was much 
 discussion between the two governments. But they 
 could not agree upon terms, perhaps because, as has 
 been said before, the Dutch would not give to the 
 Parliament what they had been willing to give to 
 the King. Some fighting took place, mostly to the 
 advantage of the English. In August, Blake took a 
 whole fleet of merchantmen and six of the men-of- 
 war which were protecting them. On September 
 29 there was a battle in which the Dutch fleet 
 would have been destroyed but for the darkness 
 coming on. At this time Van Tromp was in disgrace, 
 and De Ruyter was in command of the Dutch fleet. 
 The result of all this was that the trade of Holland 
 was almost entirely stopped. The Dutch, in their 
 distress, repented of the injustice with which they had 
 treated Van Tromp, who had not really been to 
 blame, and restored him to his command, and made 
 so great an effort .that he was able to put to sea with 
 a fleet of eighty ships. Blake had only thirty-seven 
 with which to meet him. Whether he did not know 
 the real strength of the enemy, or felt himself bound 
 to fight, whatever the odds, the English admiral 
 
W MIIITBWMPMW 
 
SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 479 
 
 joined battle. He attacked De Ruyter, who was in 
 command under Van Tromp, in his flag-ship the 
 Triumph, and was backed up by some but not by all 
 of his fleet, for some of the captains were not well 
 disposed to the Government. In the end Blake had 
 to retreat into the Thames. Three of his ships were 
 taken and two blown up. Many of the others were 
 greatly damaged, none worse than the Triumph. It 
 was after this battle, which took place on November 
 29, that Van Tromp sailed down the Channel with a 
 broom at his main-top mast, to signify that he had 
 swept the sea of his enemies.^ This was, of course, a 
 great blow to Blake, but it did not break his spirit. 
 The Government at home, knowing when it had got a 
 good man, did not think of taking away his command, 
 but appointed the best officer they could find to help 
 him, while they exerted themselves to the utmost to 
 equip a new and stronger fleet. Very early in the 
 year (1652) Blake sailed out of the Thames with 
 seventy ships, and took up a position near the Isle of 
 Portland. On February 18 Van Tromp came up 
 from the westward with about as many ships of war, 
 and a convoy of three hundred merchantmen. The 
 English fleet was divided into three squadrons, which 
 
 ^ I give the story, but the latest authority (Professor 
 Laughton, in the Encyclopcedia Britannica) throws some doubt 
 upon it. 
 
48o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 were not near enough to help each other. Van Tromp 
 attacked Blake's flag-ship, which was still the Triumph, 
 and for a time had the best of the fight. Blake was 
 severely wounded and his captain killed. But the 
 other squadrons came up and the two fleets were now 
 on equal terms. So they remained till nightfall. 
 The next day Van Tromp made sail eastward, with 
 his convoy in front, and his war-ships behind. Blake 
 and his colleagues followed close behind. A running 
 fight went on for two days, until the Dutch reached 
 the shallower water further east. The English had 
 decidedly the better of the fighting. Four Dutch 
 ships were taken and five sunk, and between twenty 
 and thirty merchantmen were captured. Blake was 
 so disabled by his wound and by sickness, that he had 
 to be put on shore. Both sides were busy in getting 
 together and equipping all the ships they could. The 
 Dutch had one hundred and twenty ships, with Van 
 Tromp still commanding, the English nearly as many. 
 The two fleets met on June 3 off the North Foreland. 
 The first day neither obtained much advantage ; on 
 the second Blake came up with a squadron of seven- 
 teen fresh ships to the help of his colleagues. In the 
 end Van Tromp lost one-and-twenty ships, 1300 
 prisoners, and a large number of killed and wounded. 
 This was the last time that Blake was to meet his 
 old enemies. He had to be put on shore again, and 
 
SOLDIER AND SAILOR. 481 
 
 before he was fit for service, his colleague Monk, of 
 
 whom we shall hear again, had defeated the Dutch in 
 
 a great action off the mouth of the Texel. In this 
 
 action Van Tromp was killed. 
 
 Blake was not a man who would let politics interfere 
 
 with the business of fighting. It was reported that 
 
 when he heard of Cromwell having turned out the 
 
 Parliament, and made himself Chief of the State, he 
 
 said to his officers — " It is not for us to mind state 
 
 affairs, but to keep foreigners from fooling us." Still, 
 
 we can easily believe that he was not altogether 
 
 pleased with having to fight the Dutch, who had once 
 
 been the allies of England, and who might well be so 
 
 again. Anyhow, he had next to do with very different 
 
 enemies. The towns of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, 
 
 on the northern coast of Africa, were the habitation 
 
 of pirates who were the terror of all the nations of 
 
 Europe. Blake sailed to Algiers, and demanded that 
 
 the Dey — this was the title of the governor, who was 
 
 nominally subject to the Sultan of Turkey — that he 
 
 should set free all Christian captives, and promise not 
 
 to interfere with any English ships in the future. The 
 
 Dey gave a civil answer. He would give up all the 
 
 captives that were in his hands for a certain price apiece, 
 
 and would promise to keep the peace. The Bey of 
 
 Tunis, which Blake visited next, was insolent. " Look 
 
 at my castles," he said. " Do you think I am afraid of 
 
 I I 
 
482 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 your fleet ? " Blake sailed into the Bay of Porto Ferino, 
 bombarded the castle till it was in ruins, silenced all 
 the enemy's guns, and then sent the long-boats of his 
 ships into the harbour with orders to set fire to the 
 fleet in it. All the Bey's ships, nine in number, were 
 destroyed. This was done with the very small loss of 
 twenty-five killed and forty-nine wounded. Tunis, 
 after this, was glad to make peace, and Tripoli 
 followed its example. 
 
 His last exploit was against Spain. News was 
 brought to him that a fleet laden with silver was in 
 the harbour of Santa Cruz, in the island of Teneriffe. 
 It was protected by sixteen men-of-war ; the forts of 
 the harbour were fully armed ; in fact, every prepara- 
 tion in the way of defence had been made. Yet 
 Blake, though his force was but small, boldly attacked, 
 and burnt, blew up, or sunk every Spanish ship, with- 
 out losing one of his own. His strength was now 
 rapidly failing ; he sailed home, but died on August 
 1/5 1657, just as his fleet was entering Plymouth 
 Harbour. 
 
 He was buried in Westminster Abbey, but all that 
 he had done for England did not prevent the Royalists 
 from taking his body out of its grave and hanging it 
 on a gibbet. 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE. 483 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GREAT PLAGUE. 
 
 Note. — I have taken (with some corrections) the contents of 
 this chapter from Daniel D^ioo^s Journal of the Plaj^uc Year. 
 Defoe did not write from his own recollections, for he was 
 but four years old at the time, but it is commonly allowed 
 that an eye-witness could not have described this terrible 
 calamity more accurately. 
 
 It was in the month of November, in the year 1665, 
 that there first began to be spread abroad a report 
 that the Plague had come again ^ to London. But, 
 for the most part, men took Httle heed of it, for 
 such things are often said without cause. Nor, 
 indeed, did we know the whole truth, because, as 
 long as it was possible, the matter was kept secret. 
 But when the weather set in hot, things became 
 so bad, one hundred and twenty dying in the 
 parish of St. Giles' only, that there was no more 
 concealing the trouble. And now began a great 
 flight of people from the city into the country. 
 
 ^ The Plague had been many times in London before. In 
 1499, 30,000 died of it, and the same number in 1625. 
 
484 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 In the Broad Street of Whitechapel, where I had 
 my dwelHng, being a saddler by trade, was nothing 
 to be seen but wagons and carts, loaded with 
 children and servants and goods, coaches also with 
 those of the better sort, and horsemen. And it could 
 plainly be seen that all were equipped for travelling. 
 This being so, I doubted what I should myself do. 
 To leave my trade was to hazard the loss of all that I 
 had in the world. To stay, on the other hand, was 
 to put my life in peril. I changed my opinion more 
 than once. But when I resolved to go, I was put 
 off more than once by some accident. First, the 
 servant whom I purposed to take with me, deceived 
 me, for being frightened at the increase of the dis- 
 temper, and not knowing when I should go, he left 
 me. Secondly, the woman whom I should have put 
 in charge of my house and goods fell sick. But what 
 chiefly determined me was this, that taking up the 
 Bible, if haply I might find guidance therein, I 
 lighted upon the 91st Psalm, wherein is written : 
 / will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my for- 
 tress, my God ; in Him will I trust. Surely He shall 
 deliver thee from the snare of the foivler and from the 
 noisome pestilence. . . . Because thou hast made the 
 Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy 
 habitation. Thus shall no evil befall thee, neither shall 
 any plague come nigh thy dwelling. 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE. 
 
 485 
 
 At the first the distemper was chiefly in the out- 
 parishes, because tiiey were very populous and fuller 
 also of poor, but afterwards the city itself, that is to 
 say, within the walls, was sorely visited. Only it 
 
 AN OLD LONDON STREET. 
 
 must be remembered that many of the inhabitants, 
 being rich men, had the means of going away, 
 whereas the poor were constrained to stay. Verily I 
 might have thought, when I walked abroad, that all 
 
486 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the inhabitants of London had gone out of it, the 
 streets which were commonly thronged being now 
 grown desolate. Yet a man could not fail to learn 
 that there were some yet left behind. The voice of 
 mourning was heard in the streets, and the shrieks of 
 women and children at the doors and windows of 
 their houses, where their dearest relations were per- 
 haps dying or just dead, were frequent to be heard. 
 But this was rather in the first part of the visitation. 
 Towards the latter end, men's hearts were hardened. 
 They did not concern themselves for the loss of 
 friends, expecting that they should themselves be 
 summoned the next hour. 
 
 Then also there were other things that increased 
 the general fear. A blazing star or comet appeared 
 for several months before the beginning of the Plague. 
 Some would have it that it was of a faint, dull, and 
 languid colour, but this they said, I notice, not so 
 much at the time as afterwards. Books also, pre- 
 tending to be religious, were published at this time, 
 and frighted the people, or at the least some of them, 
 sorely. One of these was entitled " Come out of her, 
 my People, lest you be partaker of her Plague." 
 Another was called " Fair Warning." These did, 
 either openly or secretly, foretell the ruin of the 
 city. Then there was a preacher who cried con- 
 tinually in the streets — "Yet forty days, and LONDON 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE. 487 
 
 shall be destroyed." He said no more, but repeated 
 these words continually, with a voice and countenance 
 full of horror. He would not stay to speak to any 
 one or even to take food, but cried continually these 
 words. Then some pretended, or, it maybe, believed, 
 that they saw wondrous sights, as an angel with a 
 sword, or the spirit of some dead man, pointing to 
 a tombstone as the place to which many would 
 soon come. 
 
 Of quacks and mountebanks that professed to have 
 remedies against this disorder there was, as may be 
 supposed, no lack. The door-posts of the houses and 
 the corners of the streets were plastered over with 
 their papers. Here one might see such flourishes as 
 these : " INFALLIBLE Preventive Pills against the 
 Plague," " Never-failing Preservatives against the 
 Infection," "The Only True Plague-Water," and 
 the like. I could, if I would, fill a book with them. 
 Others set up bills to summon people to their 
 lodgings for direction and advice. Here you may 
 read one of them : 
 
 " An Italian Gentlewoman just arrived from Naples, 
 having a choice secret to prevent infection, which she 
 found out by great experience, and did wonderful cures 
 with it in the late Plague there, wherein there died 
 20,000 in one day." 
 
 One of these added to his bills, which he gave about 
 
488 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the streets, these words, " He gives advice to the poor 
 for nothing." Abundance of poor people came to 
 him accordingly, to whom he said much, telling them 
 many good things for them to do. But the con- 
 clusion of all was that he had a preparation, which 
 if they took such a quantity of, every morning, he 
 would pawn his life they would never have the Plague. 
 And the price of this was half-a-crown. One of 
 them that came says to him : " Sir, I am a poor 
 alms-woman, and am kept by the parish, and you 
 say that you give your help to the poor for nothing." 
 "Ay, good woman," says he, "I give my advice for 
 nothing, but not my physic." "Alas, sir," answers 
 the woman, " you have laid a snare for the poor,' 
 and gave him many ill words, and stood at his door 
 all that day telling her tale to all the people that 
 came, till the doctor, finding she turned away his 
 customers, was obliged to call her up-stairs again 
 and give her his box of physic for nothing, which, 
 perhaps, too was good for nothing when she 
 had it. 
 
 Others dealt in charms and amulets, as if the 
 Plague was a thing to be kept off with signs of 
 the Zodiac ; papers tied up in knots, with words 
 or figures written upon them, as particularly, the 
 word Abracadabra, formed in triangle or pyramid 
 thus — 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE. 489 
 
 ABRACADABRA 
 ABRACADABR 
 ABRACADAB 
 ABRACADA 
 A B R A C A D 
 A B R A C A 
 A B R A C 
 A B R A 
 A B R 
 A B 
 A 
 
 But the true physicians themselves, when the dis- 
 temper was at its worst, could do nothing. It defied 
 all medicine ; the very physicians were seized with 
 it, with their preservatives in their mouths, and some 
 of them the most skilful of their profession. Of the 
 means that were empk)yed by persons in authority, as 
 the Lord Mayor and aldermen within the Gity and 
 the Justices of the Peace without it, the chief was the 
 shutting up of houses that were infected. A watch- 
 man was set there night and day, to prevent the in- 
 habitants stirring out, or any coming to them. This 
 looked hard and cruel, and doubtless many perished 
 that might have lived if they had been suffered to 
 leave the infected houses without delay. But the 
 public good justified the private mischief. 
 
 Yet many did escape out of these houses, as parti- 
 cularly, when the watchman was sent on some errand, 
 for it was his business to go of any errand on which 
 
490 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the family sent him, as to buy food and physic, or to 
 fetch physicians or nurses, or to order the dead -cart. 
 It was not possible that one man could watch a house, 
 it having, perhaps, more than one door. Doubtless, 
 also, many were bribed to suffer the dwellers in the 
 infected houses to escape from them. I can scarcely 
 find it in my heart to blame such as gave the bribes 
 or such as received them. I pitied much three watch- 
 men that were publicly whipped through the streets 
 for suffering people to go out from infected houses. 
 
 Who shall describe the terrible sights and sounds 
 that were to be seen and heard in the streets } The 
 most dreadful thing that I myself encountered was 
 of my own seeking, for I must needs go and see the 
 great pit that they had digged for them that died of 
 the Plague in the churchyard of our parish of Aid- 
 gate. 'Twas about 40 foot in length, and about 16 
 foot broad, and about 9 foot deep when I saw it, but 
 afterwards, it was said, they dug it in one part as far 
 as 20 foot, till they could get no further for the water. 
 Many cried out at the size of it, saying that the 
 churchwardens had a mind to bury the whole parish 
 in it. But the churchwardens knew better than did 
 they who blamed them. For having begun to bury on 
 the 6th of September, they had thrown into it 11 14 
 bodies in the space of two weeks, and so, the bodies 
 having thus come to lie within six foot of the surface 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE, 491 
 
 — and none were suffered to lie nearer — they were 
 constrained to fill it up. Having seen it when it was 
 newly digged, I saw it again on September loth, 
 when there was 400 buried, going in the night-time. 
 This I did, though it was forbidden, having some 
 acquaintance with the sexton. The good man would 
 have dissuaded me. '' 'Tis our duty," he said, " and 
 we must do it at all hazards, but you that have no 
 call there is nothing to justify." But when I said 
 that it might be an instructing sight and not without 
 its uses, he answered — " Go in ; depend upon it, 'twill 
 be a sermon to you, and the best you ever heard in 
 your life." 
 
 When I heard this I wavered, but seeing two links ^ 
 come over from the Minories, and hearing the bell- 
 man, and the dead-cart afterwards appearing, I 
 could no longer resist it, but went in. There was no 
 one in the churchyard but the buriers and the man 
 that had the cart. But when they came to the pit, I 
 saw a man in a brown cloak, going to and fro, and 
 making motions under his cloak as one in a great 
 agony. The buriers gathered round him, supposing 
 him to be one of the desperate natures that would 
 throw themselves alive into the grave. But they 
 found him to be no such, but one oppressed with a 
 dreadful weight of grief, for in the cart were his wife 
 ^ Torches carried by men. 
 
492 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 and several of his children. When he saw their bodies 
 shot into the pit, for to lay them decently was not 
 possible, he gave a great cry, and fell down in a 
 swoon. This, I say, was the most dreadful sight I 
 ever saw. . 
 
 In this place I will relate in what manner I myself 
 lived when the Plague was at its height, following 
 herein the counsel of a physician who was very skilful 
 in his art, and also my very good friend. He bade 
 me lock up myself and my family in my home, and 
 not suffer any one to go abroad. Nor was I to open 
 any door or window except I first made a very strong 
 smoke with rosin, or pitch, or brimstone, or gun- 
 powder, in the room where the door or window was 
 to be opened. Not having laid in any store of pro- 
 visions, I could not keep within doors entirely. 
 Nevertheless, though it was very late, I attempted 
 something towards it. I went and bought two sacks 
 of meal, and having an oven for several weeks we 
 baked all our own bread. Also, I bought malt, and 
 brewed as much beer as would fill all the casks that I 
 had in my house. Also I laid in a quantity of salt 
 butter and Cheshire cheese. As for flesh meat, the 
 Plague raged so violently among the butchers that I 
 judged it not advisable to go among them ; so we 
 were constrained to make shift without it. 
 
 But though I kept my family, to wit, an old 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE. 493 
 
 woman that managed the house, a maid-servant, and 
 two apprentices, within doors, I could not prevail 
 upon myself, so curious was I, to stay entirely within. 
 Yet I seldom went abroad but that I came home 
 greatly terrified with what I had seen, to wit, persons 
 falling dead in the streets, for some were taken with 
 the disease and did not know it, till it had consumed 
 all their strength, and sick people heaving open their 
 chamber windows, and crying out in a most dismal, 
 surprising manner, and such-like things. 
 
 Once, walking in Well Alley, I heard a great 
 screaming in a house, and a noise of women and chil- 
 dren running to and fro. Then I saw a garret 
 window on the other side of the Alley thrown open, 
 from which one called and asked, "What is the 
 matter ? " Upon which from the other house it was 
 answered, " O Lord ! my old master has hanged 
 himself! " The other asked, " Is he quite dead } " and 
 the first answered, " Ay, ay, quite dead ; quite dead 
 and cold ! " This person was a merchant and a 
 deputy-alderman, and very rich. 
 
 Another day I walked out into the fields towards 
 Bow, for I had a great mind to see how things were 
 managed on the river and among the ships. I had 
 even a thought, having some concern in shipping, that 
 the best way to avoid infection would be to retire into 
 a ship. Musing on this I turned from Bow to 
 
494 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 iBromley, and so to Blackwall. Here I saw a poor 
 man walking by himself on the sea-wafl. I fell into 
 some talk with him, and asked him, how people did 
 thereabouts ? " Alas, sir," said he, " almost all deso- 
 late ; all dead or sick." Then, pointing to one house, 
 " There they are all dead," said he, " and the house 
 stands open ; nobody dare go into it." Then I 
 asked him what he did there alone. Thereupon he 
 pointed to a very little low boarded house, and said : 
 " That's my house ; and there are my poor wife and 
 children. She is visited with the Plague, and so is 
 one of the children. She, I hope, will recover ; but I 
 fear the child will die. I work for them as much as I 
 am able." " How is that ? " said I. " Why, sir," says 
 he, " I am a waterman, and there's my boat, and the 
 boat serves me for a house. I work in it by day, 
 and sleep in it by night. What I get I lay down 
 upon that stone," showing me a broad stone on the 
 other side of the street, " and halloo and call to them 
 till I make them hear, and they come and fetch it." 
 
 " Well, friend," says I, " but how can you get any 
 money as a waterman ? Does anybody go by water 
 in these times?" Then he told me how he fetched 
 provisions for ships that lay in the river, buying them 
 from places not infected, as from Woolwich, and from 
 single farm-houses on the Kentish side, places where 
 he was known. 
 
THE GREAT PLAGUE. 495 
 
 After some further talk, the poor woman opened 
 the* door, and called, " Robert, Robert ! " He 
 answered, and bade her stay a few moments, and 
 he would come. So he ran down the stairs to his 
 boat, and fetched up a sack in which were certain 
 provisions that had been given him. These he took 
 to the stone, and laid them out on it, and also the 
 money that he had earned in the week, four shillings 
 and a groat. His wife came and fetched them away, 
 but was so weak that she could not carry all at once, 
 though the weight was not much. So she left her 
 little boy by it till she could come again. Then the 
 man cried to her, " The Lord keep you all," and so he 
 turned to go away. 
 
 There are many more things to be told about this 
 terrible time, of how some stayed bravely at their 
 posts, as clergymen and others, and others fled for 
 their lives ; how some were moved by the visitation 
 to repentance, and others were made more desperate ; 
 but I have consumed enough of time and space, and 
 so must make an end. I may say, by way of conclu- 
 sion, that the sum of those who died this year by the 
 Plague, in London, was counted at 68,596 persons, 
 but I should reckon it to have been near upon 
 100,000. 
 
 Note. — The population of London at this time was not more 
 than 600,000. 
 
496 STOKJES FKOM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE GREAT FIRE. 
 
 Will God never set an end to the troubles of this 
 city ? I had thought that in the year now past 
 London had suffered its full measure of evil, yet now 
 there has befallen it a yet worse thing. They that 
 the Plague spared are now for the most part without 
 a roof to cover them. 
 
 'Tis a week now since I came back from Henley- 
 upon-Thames, where I had been passing a week with 
 my uncle Richard. Being somewhat tired with my 
 journey, I went to my chamber at nine o'clock. An 
 hour or so after John Pearce, my fellow 'prentice, woke 
 me saying that there was a great fire burning near to 
 London Bridge. I donned my clothes with all haste, 
 for I have always been ready to go any whither for 
 the sight of a fire. God forgive me if I did it from 
 want of heart ! But this I can say of a certainty, that 
 from this time forward such things will be no plea- 
 sure to me but a terror. 
 
 We found that there was a great conflagration. 
 
THE GREAT FIRE. 497 
 
 scores of houses, as it seemed to me, burning together 
 near to the end of London Bridge. One in the crowd 
 told me that the fire began at the King's baker in 
 Pudding Lane. By this time it had come to Fish 
 Street, nor did there seem any Hkehhood of staying 
 it, for, by some mischance, there was no water in the 
 conduits of the New River. ^Had they been full, it 
 would not, in my judgment, have availed much, for 
 the heat was so fierce that none could approach the 
 burning houses. The fire was all the worse because 
 the wind blew so strongly. Nor must it be forgotten 
 that everything was beyond usual ready to burn, the 
 summer having been very hot and dry. While I 
 watched, I saw a great flake of fire carried on to the 
 roof of St. Magnus' Church, which, as you know, is hard 
 by the Bridge. Certain sailors, at the instance of the 
 parson, who was greatly concerned for his church, set 
 a ladder against the parapet, and carried up buckets 
 of water from the Thames. But it was of no more 
 avail than if one poured a cup of water into the 
 melting furnace at Hawkhurst.^ Indeed one of the 
 men barely escaped with his life, the ladder catching 
 fire before he could come to the ground. For the 
 most part there was no thought of staying the flames, 
 which indeed was plainly impossible, but of saving 
 
 ^ In Kent, one of the places where the manufacture of iron 
 was carried on at this time. 
 
 K K 
 
498 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 such goods and chattels as could be got out of the 
 houses. Such as dwelt in the neighbourhood of the 
 river fared best in this respect, for they put their 
 possessions into barges and lighters. To the rest 
 it often happened that they had to remove their 
 property twice or thrice, the house to which it 
 was first taken, though at first it had seemed safe, 
 being soon in manifest danger of the flames. There 
 were some who, having changed their refuge, so to 
 speak, twice or thrice or even more often, yet lost in 
 the end all that they possessed. Every place was 
 crowded with people lamenting, and there were piti- 
 able sights without end to be seen. Yet I know not 
 whether anything more moved my heart than to see 
 the pigeons which dwell in great numbers by the 
 riverside, especially at the wharves where they store 
 corn, flying about their cotes, as if being loth to leave 
 them. The poor birds would tarry even till their 
 wings were burned, and they dropped down into the 
 fire. 'Tis strange that in the midst of such unhappi- 
 ness of men and women I should think of brute 
 creatures, yet so it was. 
 
 About eight o'clock John Pearce and I went home 
 — my master's house, you should know, is on the 
 south side of the river, and so was out of danger. 
 After breakfast, being quite spent, we slept awhile, 
 but waking about noon, went forth again. A water- 
 
THE GREAT FIRE. 499 
 
 man of our acquaintance took us in his boat, and we 
 rowed to and fro till it was dark. All this time the 
 fire grew fiercer and fiercer. Even on the river, we 
 keeping as close as might be to the further shore, 'twas 
 as much as we could do to endure the heat. Drops 
 and flakes of fire also would be blown into our faces 
 by the wind, so that we were glad to have the water 
 so close at hand. At nightfall 'twas a most horrible 
 sight we saw. The flame seemed not to be as of an 
 ordinary fire, but more than commonly terrible, with a 
 colour as of blood. And the compass of it was 
 marvellously great. There was an arch of fire of 
 more than a mile long. The noise too was most 
 horrid, a continual roaring, and now and then a loud 
 crash, when some great house or church fell in a ruin. 
 That night John Pearce and I slept but two or 
 three hours, if that which was so troubled could be 
 called sleep, and then out again. This time our 
 friend the waterman toojv us to Westminster, where 
 we landed and went on foot along the Thames. At 
 Temple Bar we encountered a certain alderman with 
 whom my master often does business. Master 
 Statham, for that is his name, was very wroth with my 
 Lord Mayor. " The man is no better than a child" 
 quoth he. " I myself stood by when Mr. Pepys, who 
 is clerk to the Navy Board, came with a message from 
 the King that he should spare no houses, but pull 
 
500 . 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 them down on every side, so that the fire, having 
 nothing that it could devour, might die out. And 
 what did he answer. ' Lord ! what can I do ? I am 
 spent ; people will not obey me. I have been pulling 
 down houses ; but the fire overtakes us faster than we 
 can do it' And so all that he did was to go home 
 
 THE GREAT FIRE. 
 
 and refresh himself." I could not wonder at the 
 Alderman's anger, for he had himself lost a fine 
 house and a great store of goods, but it needed a man 
 of no common parts, a Julius Caesar, or if I may 
 name him, an Oliver Cromwell, to order things rightly, 
 at such a time. 
 
 Going eastwards, after we had parted from the 
 
THE GREAT FIRE. 501 
 
 Alderman, we saw what seemed more terrible than any- 
 thing that we had before beheld, the great church of 
 St. Paul's in flames. The church is, or rather was — alas 
 that I should write the word ! — near upon six hundred 
 feet in length,i and more than one hundred feet in 
 breadth, and the spire near upon five hundred 
 feet high.2 The flames had not yet so mastered it 
 but that one could see the whole form of the building, 
 but they were breaking out of the windows and climb- 
 ing, as it seemed to us, up the tower. 
 
 I saw the Duke of York riding with his guards 
 after him. They are much needed for the keeping 
 of order. Evil-minded men took occasion of this 
 trouble, as is always their custom, to make profit 
 by robbery and the like. I hear that the King also 
 has greatly bestirred himself to help at this time, but 
 I have not chanced to see him. 
 
 On the third day, that is Tuesday, I took boat 
 again and went down the river as far as the Tower. 
 It was indeed scarcely possible to make one's way by 
 land, so great was the throng, for the country folk have 
 crowded into the city, eager to see what may be seen, 
 and some of them, I fear, hoping to lay hands upon 
 
 ^ The exact number was 596. 
 
 ^ The tower was 285, and the spire that rose from it 208 more, 
 this was measured from the floor. The cross of new St. Paul's 
 is 425 feet above the sea ; its actual height about 50 feet less. 
 
502 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 goods left without watch. Being by the Tower stairs 
 I saw a great company of worknien that had come 
 from Deptford and Woolwich. Mr. Pepys, who is a 
 notably clever man, had sent for them. It was his 
 purpose to blow up houses with gunpowder, for 'tis 
 too slow a business to pull them down, and these men 
 are used to deal with such work. This I heard from 
 the captain of the barge in which they came. And, 
 sure enough, about the space of two hours after, we 
 heard a great and terrifying noise, and saw a great 
 cloud of dust, as it seemed, rise into the air. Those 
 that were there judged it to be near to Seething Lane, 
 wherein is Mr. Pepys' office, which, because there are 
 many papers and the like of great value, they are 
 most desirous to save. But doubtless the same will 
 be done in other parts. But 'tis strange to see how 
 little men think of the public good, and how much of 
 their own. 
 
 Going the next day to the same spot, I found that 
 the fire had been indeed stayed from spreading east- 
 ward. Barking Church stands mostly unhurt, but 
 the flames came so near that they scorched the dial 
 and consumed part of the porch. Climbing to the top 
 of the steeple I saw the saddest sight of desolation 
 that ever I beheld ; everywhere great fires, all the 
 more violent because there were many stores of 
 brimstone, cellars of oil, and the like in those parts. 
 
THE DUTCH IN THE MEDIVAY. 503 
 
 Clothworkers' Hall, where there was a great store 
 of oil, burnt, as I heard afterwards, for three whole days. 
 
 It is too early as yet, for I am writing this on the 
 eighth day after the beginning of the fire, to reckon 
 up the total damage. So much, however, is known, 
 that the whole city between the Tower and the 
 Temple has been consumed, and in this portion 
 eighty-six churches, not reckoning St. Paul's. 
 
 There is much talk about the cause of this great 
 calamity. Some will have it that the Dutch sent 
 over men to kindle it ; others, and this is indeed the 
 more common belief, protest that it has been the work 
 of the Papists. For myself, I pretend neither to 
 affirm nor to deny, except so far as to say that there 
 is no need to look beyond the causes that we know. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE DUTCH IN THE MEDWAY. 
 
 The most dreadful plague and the worst fire that 
 had ever been known in England were followed in 
 the very next year (1667) by the greatest disgrace 
 
S04 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 that the country ever suffered. This disgrace was 
 greatly due to the wickedness of the King, Charles II. 
 He wasted on his own pleasures the money which 
 should have been spent on the fleet.^ You will re- 
 member how, in the time of the Protector, Blake had 
 won victory after victory over the Dutch fleets. And 
 even in the war which began in 1664 the English had 
 held their own, winning a great battle off Lowestoft, 
 on June 3, 1665 ; and though defeated off the North 
 Foreland on June i — 4, 1666, being again victorious 
 in a battle near the mouth of the Thames about two 
 months later. In 1667 there were negotiations for 
 peace. Everything was settled except the right to 
 one of the Spice Islands which the Dutch were under 
 promise to give back to England. The King took it 
 for granted that this would be arranged, and ordered 
 the fleet to be dismantled. The fewer ships he had to 
 keep up, the more money he would have to spend on 
 himself and on his favourites. But the matter of the 
 island was not settled, and peace was not made. The 
 Dutch saw their opportunity and did not fail to use it. 
 De Ruyter, who was in chief command, ordered the 
 
 ^ Samuel Pepys, who was Secretary to the Navy at this time, 
 writes in his Diary (Sept. 23, 1666) that it would be difficult 
 to tell what had become of all the money that Parliament had 
 voted for the war. This was about ;i{^4,ooo,ooo, whereas only 
 ;^2, 200,000 had been spent, and what should have remained was 
 not to be found. 
 
THE DUTCH IN THE MEDIVAY. 
 
 505 
 
 fleet, which consisted of seventy vessels, to meet him 
 in separate squadrons at the buoy off the Nore. He 
 intended to sail up the Thames and the Medway, and 
 to destroy the docks in which many of the EngHsh 
 ships were laid up. 
 
 The English Government knew what was in- 
 tended, and did something to guard against it. Three 
 
 MEN OF WAR. 
 
 months before they had given orders to build a fort 
 at Sheerness, to throw a boom across the Medway, 
 to furnish the batteries with guns, and to get ready 
 ten fire-ships. But to give orders for works without 
 money to carry them out was useless. The Com- 
 missioners of the Navy were already nearly a million 
 in debt, and money was more scarce than it had been for 
 
5o6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 a long time. This state of things had been brought 
 about by the Plague and the Fire. Commonly when 
 money was wanted in a hurry, the rich Companies and 
 merchants in the City were able to lend it. But now 
 they had nothing to spare. The Plague had stopped 
 all trade for more than half-a-year, and when this was 
 at an end the fire came and destroyed half of London. 
 This had to be rebuilt. So the English Government 
 would have found it hard to borrow, even if it had 
 had good credit. Anyhow there was no money; the 
 sailors refused to serve ; the labourers would not work. 
 So De Ruyter found no real resistance. He sent 
 one squadron as far as Gravesend ; the other was 
 to go up the Medway and burn the shipping that 
 was in that river. The fort at Sheerness, which 
 is on the right bank of the river where it joins the 
 sea, fired upon the Dutch fleet, but to little or no 
 purpose. The boom, however, was of more use. It 
 stood against the shock of the Dutch men-of-war, 
 though they came against it with both wind and tide. 
 But even here the Government had been badly served. 
 There was another channel which had been left 
 unguarded. The Dutch vessels made their way up 
 this, and opened fire upon the forts. At the same 
 time, first one heavy fire-ship was driven against the 
 boom, and then another ; the chain broke under the 
 weight of the two ; very soon the guard-ships which 
 
THE DUTCH IN THE MED WAY. 507 
 
 had been moored behind it were on fire. The next 
 disaster that happened was the taking of the hull of 
 the Royal CJuxrles, a man-of-war pf the largest size. 
 It had been left too far down the river. Samuel 
 Pepys writes in his Diary (June 13) — "No sooner 
 up but hear the sad news confirmed of the Royal 
 Charles being taken by them, and now in fitting 
 by them (which Pett should have carried up higher 
 by our several orders, and deserves, therefore, to 
 be hanged for not doing it)." The next day, in spite 
 of all the English were able to do in the night by 
 way of mounting guns on the batteries, and collecting 
 men to work them, there were fresh losses. The 
 Dutch again came up the river. The men-of-war 
 anchored in front of the batteries and engaged them. 
 Meanwhile the fire-ships went on and burnt three 
 more first-rates, the Royal J antes ^ Oak, and London. 
 This done, the Dutch fleet went down the river again 
 to the Nore. 
 
 De Ruyter now sailed along the south coast. 
 There was no fleet to hinder him, but when he 
 attempted to burn the ships at Portsmouth, Plymouth, 
 and Torbay, he failed ; nor did he again venture to 
 sail up the Thames. But he had inflicted such a 
 disgrace upon England as is scarcely to be equalled 
 in all her history. 
 
5o8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER VIK 
 
 THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 Charles II., who had certainly during his life 
 showed himself as careless of religion as a man could 
 be, declared himself on his death-bed to be a Roman 
 Catholic. His brother, James, Duke of York, who 
 succeeded him, had for many years belonged to the 
 Roman Church. There had, indeed, been an attempt 
 to prevent him from becoming king on this account 
 but it had failed. Now, those who professed the 
 Roman Catholic faith had much to put up with. 
 They could not hold offices under Government, nor 
 sit in Parliament, nor were they allowed to have 
 public service in their churches or chapels. King 
 James was determined to release them from their 
 "disabilities," as they were called. In 1687 he 
 published a Declaration, in which he said that though 
 he would gladly see all his people of the same faith 
 as himself, he would not use any force to bring this 
 about. He wished his subjects, whatever their belief, 
 to have liberty to practise it openly. The Established 
 
THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 509 
 
 Church should still have her legal rights, but those 
 who differed from her were not to suffer for it. No 
 one, in particular, was to be kept out of any office 
 because he did not belong to the Established Church. 
 
 Now all this may have been right, but the King 
 had no power to do it. He was really trying to 
 repeal, by his own simple word, a number of Acts 
 of Parliament. The Declaration was issued a second 
 time on April 27, 1688. A week afterwards the King 
 made an Order in Council that it was to be read on 
 two Sundays— May 20th and 27th— in every church 
 and chapel in London, and on two other Sundays — 
 June 3rd and 1 0th— in all the other churches of 
 England and Wales. 
 
 The clergy of London held a meeting to decide 
 whether the Order was to be obeyed. At first the 
 majority were disposed to obey. But one of their 
 number declared that, whatever others might do, he 
 would not read it. Some of the most eminent of 
 the others agreed with him. In the end it was 
 generally determined that the Declaration should not 
 be read. The Bishops also held a meeting, and came 
 to the same conclusion. They consulted with some 
 of the other clergy, and drew up a petition to the 
 King. They should be ready, they said, to do all 
 they could to relieve in the proper way the consciences 
 of those who differed from them, but they had been 
 
5IO STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 advised that the King had no power to issue the 
 Declaration, and that therefore they could not send 
 it out for the clergy to read. This paper was signed 
 by the Archbishop and six Bishops. The six went 
 to the King to put it before him. No time was to be 
 lost, for it was Friday, and the next Sunday was the 
 day appointed for its first reading. Bishop Lloyd, 
 of St. Asaph, presented it to the King. James, who 
 had not expected them to resist, was very angry. 
 " I did not expect this from you. This is a standard 
 of rebellion." The Bishops were greatly troubled by 
 the word. Trelawney, Bishop of Bristol, fell on his 
 knees and said, " For God's sake, sir, do not say so 
 hard a thing of us. No Trelawney can be a rebel. 
 Remember how my family has fought for the Crown." 
 " We are ready," said another, " to die at your feet." 
 The King grew more and more angry. " I will be 
 obeyed," he said ; " go to your dioceses and see that 
 I am obeyed. This paper I will keep. I will re- 
 member you that have signed it." 
 
 On the Sunday the Declaration was read in four 
 only out of the hundred churches in London. Even 
 in these the congregation left the place before the 
 reading was finished. Much the same happened in 
 the country. Not one clergyman in fifty obeyed the 
 order. 
 
 A few days afterwards the Seven were called before 
 
THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 
 
 511 
 
 the Council. The King could do nothing to make 
 them change their minds, and that evening they 
 were sent to the Tower. As they were taken down 
 the Thames from Whitehall, they were greeted by 
 thousands of people with loud cheers ; many even 
 rushed into the water to ask for their blessing. The 
 very sentinels of the Tower did the same, and the 
 garrison would drink no other health. Many people 
 
 WESTMINSTER HALL. 
 
 of the highest rank came next day to pay them their 
 respects. Among their visitors were ten Noncon- 
 formist ministers. The Protestant Dissenters would 
 not consent to be helped by the King, if this was to 
 be done against law. The Bishops remained in prison 
 for a week only ; on June 29 they were brought to 
 trial. 
 
 Meanwhile the whole country was greatly moved 
 by what had happened. In Cornwall, the native 
 
512 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 county of Bishop Trelawney, the miners sang a 
 ballad of which the chorus was — 
 
 " And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die ? 
 Then twenty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason 
 why." 
 
 When the 29th came, the lawyers of the Crown did 
 their best to " pack " the jury, i. e. to let no one be 
 a member of it who would not be likely to find a 
 verdict of guilty. But they could not hinder the 
 prisoners' right to object to a certain number of jury- 
 men. Some of the forty-eight summoned were Roman 
 Catholics, some were in the King's service. To these 
 the Bishops' lawyers objected. The Crown lawyers, on 
 the other hand, objected to some whom they believed 
 to be inclined to the cause of the Bishops. The 
 Chief Justice and the three other Judges of the 
 King's Bench sat to try the case. The Bishops were 
 accused of publishing a " libel," i. e. something either 
 false, or, if true, of such a kind as to do injury to 
 some one. 
 
 The first thing was to prove that the petition 
 presented to the King was written by the Bishops. 
 The lawyers called witnesses to swear to the hand- 
 writing, but they could get nothing certain from 
 them. Then they called a Clerk of the Council, who 
 had been present when the Bishops had been brought 
 before it. He swore that he had heard them own to 
 
THE SEVEN BISHOPS. 513 
 
 their signatures. Then it came out that they had 
 done this at the King's command, and in the belief 
 that their doing this would not be used against them. 
 The King had, indeed, made no promise, but the 
 ' Bishops had understood that they would be safe in 
 doing what they did. This was the reason why the 
 lawyers had tried to prove the writing in other ways. 
 It was not to the credit of the King that he 
 should have made the prisoners give evidence against 
 themselves. 
 
 Then it became necessary to prove that the libel 
 had been published. The Bishops had written and 
 signed the paper, but was this the paper given to the 
 King? Here also there was a difficulty, but at last 
 this, too, was removed by the Earl of Sunderland, 
 who was President of the Council. 
 
 Lastly came the great question which the jury had 
 to decide. Was the petition really a libel, false or 
 malicious t The lawyers on both sides argued this 
 question, and the judges gave their opinions. The 
 Chief Justice thought that it was false and malicious; 
 so did another of the judges. The third, however, 
 declared that it seemed to him nothing more than 
 what a subject might lawfully present; and the 
 fourth boldly affirmed that the Declaration of 
 Indulgence was against law, and that therefore the 
 Bishops were quite in the right. 
 
514 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The jury was locked up to consider their verdict, 
 being carefully watched to see that no food or drink 
 reached them. At first nine were for acquitting, and 
 three for convicting. Then two of the three gave 
 way. The only one that held out was Michael 
 Arnold, the King's brewer. He had been very un- 
 willing to serve. It was reported that he had said, 
 "Whatever I do I am sure to be half-ruined. If I say 
 Not Guilty, I shall brew no more for the King ; if 
 I say Guilty, I shall brew no more for any one else." 
 One of the eleven wished to argue the question with 
 him. Arnold sulkily refused. His conscience was 
 not satisfied, and he would not acquit the Bishops. 
 " If it comes to that," said the other, " look at me. 
 I am the largest and strongest of the twelve ; before 
 I find such a petition as this a libel, here will I stay 
 till I am no bigger than a tobacco pipe." It was 
 six in the morning before Arnold yielded. 
 
 At ten o'clock the court met, and the foreman of 
 the jury gave in the verdict of N^ot Guilty. It was 
 met with a tremendous shout of applause. Every- 
 where the news was heard with delight. That day 
 the King visited the camp at Hounslow. When the 
 news was brought to him, he set out for London. As 
 soon as his back was turned, the soldiers broke out 
 into a cheer. He asked the reason. " Nothing, sire," 
 was the answer. " They are only cheering because 
 
L OND ONDERR V. 515 
 
 the Bishops are acquitted." " Do you call that 
 nothing?" he said; "so much the worse for them." 
 Less than five months afterwards King James fled 
 from England. 
 
 CHAPTER Vlil. 
 
 LONDONDERRY. 
 
 The cause of King James was lost for ever in Eng- 
 land, but in Ireland it still prevailed. It was not that 
 the Irish people had any particular liking for him. He 
 was a foreigner, and they had always wished to be 
 ruled by a prince of their own race. But then he was 
 no longer King of England, and he was of their own 
 way of thinking in religion. To have a Roman 
 Catholic king, who would have no reason to prefer 
 the interests of England to the interests of Ireland, 
 was, they felt, the best thing that they were likely to 
 get. But the north-east corner of Ireland was very 
 differently situated from the rest of the island. The 
 inhabitants were mostly Protestants, Englishmen and 
 Scotchmen who had come over and settled on lands 
 that had formerly belonged to the natives. Many of 
 
516 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 them were sons of Cromwell's soldiers ; some of the 
 old men among them had actually fought under him. 
 They hated King James as much as did any one in 
 England, probably hated him more, because they 
 would be certain to lose more, if he should succeed.^ 
 
 The chief town in this portion of Ireland was 
 Londonderry, and Londonderry refused to submit 
 to King James. Thousands of Protestants from the 
 country round, and from more distant parts of Ireland, 
 flocked into it for shelter. It was only there and in 
 Enniskillen that a Protestant's life and property were 
 safe. Unfortunately, Londonderry itself was in 
 danger. The walls by which it was defended had 
 never been very strong, and they had been allowed to 
 get out of repair. The supply of food was very small, 
 while there were a great many more people than usual 
 to be provided for. Worst of all, the governor, one 
 Colonel Lundy, was bent on giving the place up to 
 King James. We cannot say whether he was a traitor 
 or a coward, but it is certain that he did his best 
 to discourage the garrison and the inhabitants. The 
 city, he said, could not possibly hold out, and the 
 best thing that could be done was to make terms with 
 
 1 The Irish ParHament had already passed one Act taking 
 away a large part of the property owned by Protestants, and 
 another which condemned to death, without trial, nearly every 
 Protestant above the rank of a shopkeeper or an artisan. 
 
Z ONDONDERR V. 517 
 
 the besiegers. On April 14 two regiments arrived. 
 They had been sent from England to strengthen the 
 garrison. Lundy told the colonel who commanded 
 them that it would be useless for him to land his sol- 
 diers. The place could not be defended, and there 
 was not food enough even for the garrison that it had 
 already. He and his regiments had better go back 
 to England at once. After speaking in this way to 
 
 LONDONDERRY CATHEDRAL. 
 
 the colonel privately, Lundy called a council of war, 
 from which, however, he took pains to shut out any 
 officer that wished to resist. The council decided to 
 surrender, and a messenger was sent to King James 
 to say that Londonderry would be peaceably given 
 up to him, as soon as it should be summoned. 
 
 This decision was not at all to the liking of the 
 inhabitants. Even the soldiers refused to obey their 
 
5i8 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 commander. The gates were shut ; the guns upon 
 the walls were manned. When Khig James, who felt 
 sure that the city would be surrendered to him, rode 
 with his staff near one of the gates, a cannon-shot 
 was fired at the party, and killed an officer by the 
 King's side. Two governors were chosen by the prin- 
 cipal inhabitants, one of them a soldier. Baker by 
 name, who was to look after military affairs, the other, 
 an old clergyman, the Rev. George Walker, Rector of 
 Donaghmore, who was to manage matters in the city 
 itself, and issue the allowances of food. King James 
 still hoped to gain the town. He sent a trumpeter 
 with a message to know when the agreement which 
 Governor Lundy had made to surrender would be 
 carried out. The man was told that the people of 
 Londonderry had nothing to do with Governor 
 Lundy's agreements, and that they were determined 
 to resist to the last. Another envoy, an Irish noble, 
 came the following day. Murray, the colonel of one of 
 the regiments, rode out to meet him. " I am to offer," 
 said the envoy, "a free pardon to all the citizens of 
 Londonderry, and to you a colonel's commission and 
 a thousand pounds." The answer was — " The citizens 
 of Londonderry have done nothing that requires a 
 pardon, and have no sovereign but King William and 
 Queen Mary." The envoy was advised to depart at 
 once and not to come again. 
 
L OND ON D ERR Y, 519 
 
 After this the siege was begun in earnest. The 
 town was bombarded, with no Httle damage to the 
 houses and some loss of Hfe. At first this caused 
 much dismay, but the inhabitants got used to it, as men 
 will get used to anything. On April 21 the besieged 
 made a sally, and a fierce fight followed, in which a 
 French general, who had the command of King 
 James' army, was killed. They made another about 
 a fortnight later, in which another French officer of 
 high rank received a wound, which, not many days 
 after, for want of skill in the doctors, caused his death. 
 For several weeks after this fighting went on, and, on 
 the whole, the men of Londonderry had the best of it, 
 taking both prisoners and flags from the enemy. Then 
 Hamilton, who, after the Frenchman's death, had suc- 
 ceeded to the chief command of the army, ordered an 
 assault to be made. The point to be attacked was a 
 spot called Windmill Hill, near the southern gate. A 
 forlorn hope, consisting of men who had taken an oath 
 to make their way into the town or die in the attempt, 
 was led by a certain Captain Butler to the attack. 
 The besieged received them, drawn up in three lines, 
 the men who stood behind loading the muskets of 
 those who stood in front. The struggle was long and 
 fierce. The Irish fought bravely, but they could not 
 drive the defenders from their place. The women of 
 Londonderry were busy serving out powder and shot 
 
526 STORIMS FROM ENGLISH HIS TOR Y. . 
 
 to their husbands and relatives. A few of the attacking 
 party managed to climb the wall where it was lowest, 
 but they were all killed or taken prisoners. When 
 the besiegers had lost four hundred men, they were 
 ordered by their commanding officer to fall back. 
 
 As the town could not be taken by storm, there was 
 nothing left but to blockade and starve it out. It was 
 easy enough to do this by land, but there was the 
 river, by which English ships could pass up to the 
 town with food. True, there were forts and batteries, 
 but these might be passed at night, or, indeed, with 
 some risk at other times. The besiegers, therefore, 
 proceeded to barricade the river. They sank boats 
 loaded with stones, drove stakes into the bottom of 
 the stream, and tied heavy logs of wood together with 
 cables a foot thick. They thus made a boom or fence 
 right across the river. Until this was broken, nothing 
 could pass, and Londonderry was shut off from all 
 help. The brave men who were holding Enniskillen 
 would have been glad to help if it had been possible, 
 but they were not strong enough to do more than 
 harass the outside of the enerriy's camp. Meanwhile, 
 inside the walls, the famine grew worse and worse. 
 There was no flesh but horseflesh, and very little 
 of that; the wretched people were glad to have a 
 little tallow doled out to them. At last, on June 
 15, when the siege had lasted nearly two months, 
 
LONDONDERRY. 52 1 
 
 there was some hope of relief. The sails of ships 
 could be seen from the top of the Cathedral tower. 
 These ships were in Lough Foyle, an arm of the sea, 
 as it may be called, into which the Londonderry 
 river runs ; and they were, without doubt, the squadron 
 that had come from England to relieve the town. 
 Shortly after, a messenger, who had dived under the 
 boom, brought the news. The ships were carrying 
 men, ammunition, and, above all, food. Londonderry 
 v/as to be relieved. 
 
 So men hoped, but it was long before the hope was 
 fulfilled. The officer who commanded the squadron 
 did not think it safe to approach. He had not men 
 enough to attack the enemy's lines ; he was afraid to 
 charge the boom with his ships. For weeks he lay in 
 Lough Foyle doing nothing. 
 
 Famine, and the fever which always follows famine, 
 were busy in the town. Many died, among them 
 Governor Bake;- ; those who survived were so weak 
 that they could hardly bear arms. Yet the brave 
 people of Londonderry held out. They even endured 
 what must have been not less hard to bear than 
 hunger and disease — the sight of their own countrymen 
 dying of starvation under the walls of their tov/n. 
 The command of the siege had been handed over to 
 Rosen, a Russian officer in the French service. This 
 man drove a number of old men, women, and children 
 
522 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 from the country round up to the walls. The besieged, 
 he thought, must either take them in, and so have 
 more to feed, or must see them die before their eyes 
 The townsmen, by way of answer, put up gibbets on 
 the wall, and declared that, unless these poor creatures 
 were allowed to go away, they would hang the 
 prisoners whom they had in their hands. Rosen held 
 out for two days before he gave way ; many had died 
 during this time. 
 
 King James now took the chief command away 
 from Rosen, and the siege went on more vigorously 
 than ever. The cannons never ceased to fire ; one 
 of the gates was beaten in ; a breach was made 
 in the walls. Still the brave men of Londonderry 
 repaired by night the damage that had been done 
 by day, and this though they were so weak for 
 want of food that they could hardly stand. For, of 
 course, as the weeks went by, the famine grew worse 
 and worse. Of proper food hardly any was left. 
 There was a store of salted hides, meant to be made 
 into leather ; these the soldiers and others gnawed, and 
 so were able to stay their hunger a little. Dogs and 
 rats were greedily eaten when they could be caught ; 
 there was even talk of making a m.eal off human flesh. 
 And all this time the people could see the ships in 
 Lough Foyle, and knew that if they could come up 
 the river there would be plenty of food for all. 
 
LONDONDERRY. 523 
 
 Colonel Kirke, who was in command of the fleet, 
 ought to have made the attempt to force the passage 
 as soon as he came. He now received a command 
 which he dared not disobey, that it must be made at 
 all risks and without delay. The master of one of the 
 merchantmen now went to Kirke, and offered to run 
 his ship, the Moiintjoy, against the boom, on the 
 chance of breaking it down. His name was Micaiah 
 Browning, and he was a native of Londonderry. The 
 offer was accepted, as also another made by Andrew 
 Douglas, master of the Phoenix. The two ships sailed 
 up the river from Lough Foyle, and with them was a 
 frigate, carrying 36 guns, the Dartmouth, commanded 
 by Captain John Leake. At sunset, on July 28, 
 these three came up the river from Lough Foyle. 
 The tide was flowing, but the water was still very low, 
 and the channel by which they had to pass was close 
 to the left bank of the river, where the besiegers had 
 made batteries on which many guns were mounted. 
 A sharp cannonade was kept up on the vessels from 
 the shore, to which the Dartmouth did its best to 
 reply. When they came to the boom, the Mountjoy 
 charged it. The ship had all its sails set, and was 
 carried on by the force of the tide, and the boom could 
 not stand the force of the blow, but broke. Still, the 
 shock to the Mountjoy was so great that she was 
 driven back into the mud. The Irish soldiers on the 
 
524 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 bank raised a great shout, got into their boats, and 
 prepared to board. But the frigate came to the rescue, 
 pouring such a broadside on them that they were 
 thrown into confusion. Meanwhile, the Phcenix dashed 
 at the opening which the Mountjoy had made, and 
 passed safely through the boom. The Mountjoy too 
 was soon floated off by the rising tide, and followed 
 her companion ship, without suffering much injury, 
 though her brave captain was killed, struck by a shot 
 from one of the batteries. By ten o'clock the two 
 ships had reached the quay. As it was sunset when 
 they came up to the boom, and the sun does not set 
 so far north on July 28 till past nine o'clock, not 
 much time had been lost. But short as it was, this time 
 had been one of terrible suspense to the townsfolk. 
 Now all their troubles were over ; an ample supply of 
 food was distributed to every one ; nor did it trouble 
 any one that the guns of the besiegers went on 
 thundering throughout the night. They lit bonfires 
 on the walls, and rang out a merry peal from the bells 
 of the churches. For two days more the besiegers 
 kept up the cannonade; on the night of July 31 they 
 burnt their camp and marched away. 
 
BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 5^5 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 
 
 It is easy to understand that when it seemed likely 
 that the two great kingdoms of France and Spain ^ 
 would be united in the hands of the same ruler, the 
 other nations of Europe would see danger to them- 
 selves. After much trouble an arrangement was made, 
 by which it was provided that France and Spain 
 should not be so united. But Louis XIV., though he 
 had agreed to it, refused to abide by it. Hence began 
 what is called '* The War of the Spanish Succession." 
 Some of the European nations joined in a " Grand 
 Alliance " to resist the ambition of the French king. 
 It is not certain that England would have joined 
 it, though King William III. was anxious that it 
 sho\ild, but for one thing. When James II. of Eng- 
 land was dying, his wife prevailed upon Louis XIV. to 
 
 ^ It must be remembered that Spain was much more powerful 
 than it is now ; it possessed the Spanish Netherlands (about 
 corresponding to Belgium), Milan and the territory round 
 it, Naples and Sicily, and a very large region in Central and 
 South Anierica. 
 
526 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 promise that he would recognize his son as King of 
 England. Accordingly, no sooner was King James 
 dead (Sept. 6, 1701) than his son^ was proclaimed 
 King of England under the title of James III. The 
 English people were greatly enraged, and King 
 William had no more difficulty in persuading them to 
 follow his advice. He himself died half-a-year later 
 (March 8, 1702), but his death made no change 
 in English policy. John Churchill, whom William 
 III. had made Earl of Marlborough, was appointed 
 Commander-in-Chief. He had done his best, or worst, 
 to injure William, but he was a great general, and 
 the King, when he was dying, recommended him 
 to the Princess Anne, who was to succeed, as the very 
 best man that she could find to carry on the war. 
 
 It was no easy matter to get together an army. 
 Men who had been put into prison for debt — -and in 
 those days, and indeed for long after, debtors were 
 treated with the greatest . cruelty — were released if 
 they were willing to serve. Recruits were even taken 
 from the prisons. Vagrants and tramps were com- 
 pelled to enlist. Even then the proper number" of 
 men could not be found. But in Germany there were 
 many who were willing to become soldiers. During 
 the last century there had been so much fighting that 
 the labourers had been obliged to become soldiers. 
 
 1 See Chapter XI. 
 
THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH AS A YOUNG ENSIGN. 
 
BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 529 
 
 It was useless to cultivate fields which might be 
 ravaged any day. In fact, service in the army was 
 for many the only livelihood that they could follow. 
 Then again, the small German princes were glad 
 to hire out their subjects as soldiers to States that 
 were willing to pay for them. 
 
 Marlborough went to Holland in May 1702, and 
 was made Commander-in-Chief of the Dutch army. 
 Various German princes, the Elector of Hanover, 
 afterwards George I. of England, among them, joined 
 him. He had altogether about 60,000 men. But 
 it was difficult to manage an army made up of so 
 many States ; and still more difficult to manage their 
 rulers, each of whom had his own interests to look 
 after. That year various towns were taken, of which 
 Liege was the most important. A very great mis- 
 fortune had very nearly happened to the Allies. As 
 Marlborough was on his way down the river Maas to 
 the Hague, his barge was taken by some French 
 soldiers. An old servant who was with him slipped 
 into his hand a French pass which had been given 
 some time before to his brother. The Frenchmen 
 were deceived and let him go. 
 
 It would take long to describe what was done in the 
 course of the next year (1703). Marlborough was 
 continually hindered by the Dutch. A committee of 
 Dutch Councillors went about with him, and he had 
 
530 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 always to consult them. They were cautious, even, 
 one may say, timid, and unwilling to run any risk. 
 Some of Marlborough's best schemes were spoilt 
 because they were afraid to give their consent. It 
 may be said that, on the whole, the Allies made no 
 great advance. Marlborough resolved that the next 
 year should not be lost in the same way. He marched 
 into South Germany, and at the beginning of July 
 had reached Wiirtemberg. He had, as I have said, 
 a curiously mixed army ; but there were no troops 
 so much admired as the English. " These gentlemen 
 all look as if they were dressed for a ball," said 
 one of the German Princes to an English General. 
 On August 2 Marlborough stormed a strong place 
 called the Schellenberg. He lost 4500 men in 
 doing it, but of the enemy's garrison of 12,000 only 
 3000 escaped. Many were drowned in attempting 
 to swim the river that stopped their flight ; still more 
 were drowned by the breaking of the bridge that had 
 been made across it. Eleven days later came the 
 great battle of Blenheim. That it was to be a great 
 battle every one felt. Marlborough, who had received 
 the Holy Communion before 'dawn, cried, as he 
 mounted his horse — " This day I conquer or die." 
 
 The army of the Allies consisted of 52,000 men; 
 about two-thirds being under the immediate command 
 of Marlborough. The rest were led by Prince Eugene 
 
BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 531 
 
 of Savoy. The French, on the other hand, had about 
 56,000 men ; Marshal Tallard was in chief command, 
 and seems to have shown a strange want of skill, and 
 even of common care. In the first place, he did not 
 know that the Allied army was so near him ; second- 
 ly, he did not know how strong it was, thinking, in 
 particular, that Prince Eugene had indeed joined 
 Marlborough, but had not brought an army with him. 
 Then he had not taken any trouble in protecting his 
 position. His camp had a river in front of it and 
 between him and the Allies. He took it for granted 
 that it was too deep to ford, because it had been so in 
 October, whereas it was now August. There was a 
 bridge over it, but this he neither broke down nor 
 fortified. There were two mills upon it ; these he did 
 not take the trouble to occupy. Finally, he left a 
 large space between his camp and the river, in which 
 the enemy, if he got across the river, would find ample 
 space to draw up his army. Of course he ought 
 to have moved his troops right up to the bank, so 
 that the Allies would have to meet them as soon 
 as they should get out of the water. 
 
 On the right of the French position was the village 
 of Blenheim. By some blunder, a great body of 
 French troops was shut up in this place. A great 
 part of it was protected by the two rivers, the Danube 
 and the Nebel, which flows into it; the rest was 
 
532 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Strongly fortified. Four thousand men would have 
 been quite sufficient to guard it, but there were more 
 than three times as many, so closely packed together 
 that many of them could hardly use their guns. 
 
 Marlborough kept his army waiting till Prince 
 Eugene on the right could reach his proper position 
 (he had to make his way by a long circuit). This 
 was not done till one o'clock (you will remember that 
 the troops began to move at dawn). When this 
 was signalled, the advance was ordered. On the 
 left, General Cutts, nicknamed the "Salamander,"^ 
 attacked the village of Blenheim. But this place was 
 held too strongly to be taken. The Allies suffered con- 
 siderable loss in the attack, and Marlborough sent word 
 to General Cutts that he must be content to keep the 
 garrison of the village occupied without exposing his 
 own men more than could be helped. On the right, 
 Prince Eugene's troops, who were greatly fatigued by 
 their long march, — much longer than that of any other 
 part of the army, — could make no impression on the 
 enemy. The Danes, Dutch, and Hanoverians, who 
 were between the Prince and Marlborough, did not 
 fare any better. They were opposed to an Irish 
 brigade in the service of the French king, and suffered 
 great loss. Marlborough himself had to go to their 
 
 ^ A salamander is a kind of lizard which was once supposed to 
 be able to live in the middle of fire. 
 
BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 533 
 
 help. When he had done this he prepared to make 
 the great effort of the day. He had drawn up his 
 cavalry, 8000 in number, on the slope of ground 
 which went down from the French camp to the river. 
 The river, it should be said, he had been allowed 
 to cross without meeting with any opposition. He 
 now gave the signal to charge. He was met with a 
 heavy fire, which for a time threw his lines into dis- 
 order. If the French cavalry had taken advantage 
 of the opportunity, the result of the day might have 
 been different. But they did not move, though they 
 were actually more numerous than the Allies. Marl- 
 borough, always calm, however great the danger, 
 formed his lines again, and led them once more to the 
 charge. As they came near the French squadrons, the 
 latter broke and fled. The infantry, finding them- 
 selves deserted, followed their example, and in a very 
 short time the centre of the French army had ceased 
 to exist. The left, that portion which Prince 
 Eugene had in vain attacked, withdrew in good order, 
 without suffering much loss. But the right, the 
 14,000 men who were crowded into the village of 
 Blenheim, were not so fortunate. They had made 
 their position more difficult by setting fire to the 
 village. When they attempted to escape, they were 
 driven back. On the other hand, the Allies were 
 not able to carry the barricades. The general in 
 
534 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 command of the French saw that it was useless to 
 resist any longer. He sent a messenger to ask for 
 terms. The answer was that, by Marlborough's orders, 
 they must surrender without conditions. It was hard 
 for brave men to submit to such a disgrace, but there 
 seemed no other course. The 14,000 men gave them- 
 selves up as prisoners. All that they could do was to 
 burn or destroy their flags. 
 
 The loss of the French was very great, amounting 
 in killed, wounded, and prisoners, to 40,000, or more 
 than two-thirds of their army. The Allies had about 
 4500 killed, and 7500 wounded. The English num- 
 bered only about 9000 men, but it will have been seen 
 that they had more than their full share in the fighting 
 and in the victory. 
 
 In the next year (1705) little was done; Marl- 
 borough could not get the Dutch to move, and he 
 could not move without them. But in 1706, another 
 great victory, greater in some respects than Blenheim 
 itself, was won. The French general, Marshal 
 Villeroi, made the mistake of supposing that Marl- 
 borough had not yet got his army together, and put 
 himself in the way of a battle which he ought to have 
 done his best to avoid. He made another mistake in 
 the position which he took up. His line of battle was 
 curved like a bow, one may say, while Marlborough's 
 army was like the string. The string is shorter than 
 
BLENHEIM AND AFTER. 535 
 
 the bow, and so Marlborough could bring more men, 
 and more quickly to bear on any one point, than could 
 Villeroi. Another thing that put the French com- 
 mander at a disadvantage was this. He was made to 
 believe that Marlborough intended to attack his left 
 wing, and so strengthened it with troops which he had 
 to take away from places where they were more 
 wanted. The chief fighting of the day took place on 
 the right wing. The English drove the French out of 
 the little village of Taviere, and then charged the 
 famous corps of Musketeers, which was posted behind 
 it. They broke the first line, but were driven back by 
 the second. Marlborough came to their aid with his 
 cavalry — he always made a great use of cavalry — 
 and compelled the Musketeers to retreat. Mean- 
 while a mound, called the Tomb of Ottomond, had 
 been occupied with cannon, which swept the whole of 
 the French line. The next thing was that the French 
 left was attacked in the rear. This completed the 
 rout. It was a great victory, and, to compare it with 
 other battles, did not cost the conquerors very much, 
 a few more than 3000 in killed and wounded. The 
 French lost 8000 in killed and wounded. Nearly 
 as many more, natives of the country, deserted, some 
 going home, others joining the Allies. All the bag- 
 gage fell into the hands of the English. Nearly 
 all the Spanish Netherlands was lost to France by 
 
536 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 this battle of Ramillies. " We have done in four days," 
 Marlborough wrote to his wife at home, "what we 
 should have thought ourselves happy if we could 
 be sure of in four years." 
 
 A third great victory was won in 1708 at Ouden- 
 arde, and a fourth in 1709 at Malplaquet ; but this 
 last was a victory only in name ; for though Marl- 
 borough drove the French from the field of battle, he 
 lost 20,000 in killed and wounded, to 12,000 of the 
 enemy. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 
 
 Anne was the younger of the two daughters of 
 James II., by his first wife, Anne Hyde, daughter 
 of the Earl of Clarendon. There were other children 
 of the marriage, but these two only lived to grow up. 
 Mary married William Prince of Orange, himself a 
 grandson of Charles I., and reigned with him as joint 
 sovereign till her death in 1694. It had been settled 
 that if she left no children the crown should pass 
 
GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 537 
 
 to Anne, but that William should be king for the 
 rest of his life. He lived till 1702, and then Anne 
 succeeded. 
 
 She had been married at nineteen to George, Prince 
 of Denmark, a cousin of her own,^ and had had many 
 children, of whom one only, William Duke of Glou- 
 cester, lived beyond infancy. The Prince was born 
 July 24, 1689, and grew up to be a very interesting 
 child. He was weakly and ailing, for at four years 
 of age he was scarcely able to walk without support, 
 but he had plenty of life and' cleverness. Indeed, 
 the disease from which he suffered is one that often 
 makes children seem older than their real age.^ His 
 chief amusement seems to have been playing at 
 soldiers. He had a band of boys whom he called 
 his "horse-guards," and he used to exercise them 
 in the gardens of Campden House, in Kensington, 
 where his father and mother resided. Young as he 
 was, he had a very clear notion of his own importance. 
 He knew, for instance, that he was heir to the throne, 
 and ought to have honours shown to him. One 
 
 1 He was great-nephew of her great-grandmother, Anne of 
 Denmark, wife of James I., i. e. second cousin, one degree 
 removed. 
 
 ^ It was water on the brain. We are told that his head was 
 so large that his hat was big enough for most men, and that 
 it was difficult to find a wig to fit him. It is curious to hear of 
 a child of four wearinsj- a wisf. 
 
538 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 day when King William came to inspect his boy 
 soldiers, and he had promised that the King should 
 have them to help him in his war against the French, 
 he turned to Queen Mary and asked, " Why does not 
 my mamma have guards as well as you ? " Anne 
 had had her guards taken from her by the King and 
 Queen, with whom she was on very bad terms. The 
 Duke's little soldiers seem to have been very ill- 
 behaved, giving themselves the airs of grown men, 
 and taking what they pleased from the houses round, 
 just as if the place belonged to them. The poor 
 child seems to have been foolishly treated by his 
 father on the one side, who wanted to harden him 
 by rough amusements for which he was not strong 
 enough, and, on the other, by his mother and her 
 ladies with their petting. In January 1696 the 
 King gave the young Duke the Order of the Garter, 
 and did him the honour of buckling it on with his 
 own hands. " Are you not glad to have this ? " some 
 one asked him. " I am gladder of the King's 
 favour," was the wise answer of the prudent little 
 boy. In the summer of this year he was taken for 
 the first time to Windsor, which his mother had now 
 for a summer residence. Four boys from Eton 
 School, one of them the son of the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, of whom you have read in Chapter IX., 
 were sent for to be his playfellows. He immediately 
 
GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 539 
 
 ordered a sham fight, in which they were to take 
 part. In the course of their wars he got a scratch 
 on the arm from a sword, but said nothing about it 
 till the fight was over, when he asked whether there 
 was a surgeon at hand. On July 24 he was present 
 at a " chapter " or meeting of the Knights of the 
 
 CAMPDEN HOUSE. 
 
 Garter, and sat down with the grown men who were 
 his companions at the great banquet of the day. 
 Not long afterwards, when a plot for the murder 
 of the King had been discovered, the Duke sent 
 him an address, in which he declared that he was 
 his Majesty's most dutiful subject, and had rather 
 lose his life in his Majesty's cause than in any one 
 else's. 
 
540 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 His eleventh birthday was kept with much re- 
 joicing. He reviewed his boy regiment, had a great 
 exhibition of cannon and fireworks, and sat at the 
 head of the table at a grand banquet. The next 
 day he complained of sickness, headache, and sore 
 throat. The family doctor was called in, and, after 
 the common fashion of the day, bled him. This 
 naturally did him more harm than good. Dr. Rad- 
 cliffe, who had the reputation of being the most 
 skilful physician of the age, was sent for in haste. 
 When he came, he pronounced the boy to be suffer- 
 ing from scarlet fever, and asked who had bled him. 
 The doctor in attendance owned that it had been 
 done by his orders. " Then," said Dr. Radcliffe, 
 "you have destroyed him, and you may finish him, 
 for I will not prescribe." On July 30, 1700, five 
 days after his birthday, the Duke died. 
 
 Queen Anne herself is not so interesting a person 
 as her little son. Great events happened in her reign, 
 and there never was a time in English history more 
 distinguished for great men, soldiers, statesmen, and 
 writers. But she herself had no greatness about her. 
 She was weak and fickle, ruled first by one favourite, 
 then by another. In the early part of her reign it 
 was the wife of the Duke of Marlborough that was 
 in power, so to speak. The two used to write to 
 each other under the names of Mrs. Morley (the 
 
GOOD QUEEN ANNE AND HER SON. 541 
 
 Queen) and Mrs. Freeman (the Duchess). But the 
 Duchess was a very haughty and self-willed person, 
 and in the end the Queen tired of her. After many 
 angry letters and conversations, a final quarrel took 
 place, and the Queen's favour was transferred to 
 Lady Masham, who had once, as Abigail Hill, held 
 a quite humble post in the household. There was, 
 indeed, something political as well as much that 
 was personal in these changes. The Duchess of 
 Marlborough was on the side of the Whigs, Lady 
 Masham on the side of the Tories. 
 
 Why she has been called Good Queen Anne it is 
 not very difficult to. see. As long as King William 
 lived, she had the advantage of being compared with 
 him. William was a remarkably cold, ungracious 
 person, unlucky as a soldier, and getting little credit 
 even for his good qualities. Anne, who was always 
 kindly and good-humoured, was popular by contrast. 
 And then, as has been said, she had the good fortune 
 to be served by great men. William scarcely ever 
 won a victory, though he was both skilful and brave ; 
 Anne had not a little of Marlborough's glory reflected 
 upon her. She was disposed to be generous, though 
 indeed real generosity is not easy for a person who has 
 never any occasion to deny herself. Still, she was ready 
 to give away, and did not care either to save money 
 or spend it upon herself. Her allowance as Queen 
 
542 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 was smaller than that enjoyed by any Sovereign 
 either before or after. Her name is preserved by 
 what is called Queen Anne's Bounty. In the second 
 year of her reign she gave certain sums of money, 
 which used to be part of the revenue of the Crown, 
 to be used for increasing small livings of the Church 
 of England. It may, of course, be said that in this 
 she was scarcely giving away money of her own ; 
 still, it was a kindly thought that prompted the 
 act, and when she did it she was moved by the 
 belief that she was helping the Church. 
 
 She and her sister have been greatly blamed for 
 their conduct to their father. King James. They 
 were, it has been said, most undutiful children. Yet 
 it is difficult to say how they could have acted other- 
 wise than they did. They could not refuse to reign 
 when the country demanded that they should, and 
 if their father was banished for his misdeeds, that 
 was not their fault. 
 
THE =15. 543 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE '15. 
 
 The word "Jacobites " means " friends or followers 
 of James." Many people thought that the Stuart 
 family ought not to have been driven from the throne. 
 They believed that a king had the right to reign 
 whatever he might do, or whatever he might be. 
 These were the real Jacobites. Then there were many 
 who were ready to help them because for various 
 reasons it suited them to do so. There were the 
 Roman Catholics, for instance, who wanted to have a 
 king of their own way of thinking. There were, again, 
 the Scotch Highlanders, who did not like being under 
 the rule of any but their own chiefs, and hoped, 
 besides, to get something for themselves by a war, the 
 country which they were going to invade being much 
 richer than their own. And there were some people 
 who, being very badly off, hoped to get some profit 
 out of a change of Government. Some even of the 
 great nobles who had had much to do with driving 
 the Stuarts out of the kingdom, began to consider 
 
544 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 whether it would not be well to have them back again. 
 They did not get as much as they wanted, or thought 
 they ought to have, from the new King. Perhaps if 
 they brought back the old one, he might give them 
 more. 
 
 In the year 1700 Parliament passed what was 
 called the "Act of Settlement." On July 30 the 
 young Duke of Gloucester died, and there was then 
 no one to come after Queen Anne. Accordingly it 
 was settled by this Act that if, as seemed likely, the 
 Queen should leave no children, the throne should go 
 to the family of Sophia, wife of the Elector of 
 Hanover. This lady was the daughter of Elizabeth, 
 who, again, was the daughter of King James I. 
 There were other persons who had a better right to 
 succeed — the Duchess of Savoy, for instance, who was 
 a grand-daughter of Charles I. ; but the choice was a 
 good one, one great reason being that the family were 
 Protestants. But during the latter years of Queen 
 Anne's reign, the Jacobites were very busy trying to 
 set this arrangement aside. The Queen disliked the 
 Hanover family very much, and would have been 
 pleased that her brother should succeed her, anyhow 
 if he would consent to become a Protestant.^ If she 
 
 ^ Anne was the daughter of James II. by his first wife, Anne 
 Hyde, daughter of Lord Clarendon ; James Edward, commonly 
 called " The Old Pretender," and the " Chevalier St. George," 
 
THE 'IS. 545 
 
 had lived longer, the Jacobites might have succeeded, 
 but she died rather suddenly, and the Elector of 
 Hanover, son of the Electress Sophia, was pro- 
 claimed King, with the title of George I., without any 
 opposition. 
 
 Still, there were many people in the country who 
 did not like the idea of having a German king, 
 one, too, who could not speak a word of English, and 
 the Jacobites were not willing to let the opportunity 
 pass without trying to bring about a change. 
 
 The Queen had died on August i, 17 14. Some 
 of the friends of the Stuarts were for proclaiming the 
 Chevalier St. George as James III., but no one had 
 the courage to do so, and for a time it seemed as 
 if nothing would be done. But on August 2, 171 5, 
 the Earl of Mar, who the day before had congratu- 
 lated King George on the anniversary of his succession, 
 left London to raise an insurrection in the Highlands. 
 A few friends went with him. They were disguised 
 as sailors, and pretended to be part of the crew of 
 a small collier. In about a fortnight's time he 
 reached his house in Aberdeenshire, and from there 
 sent out invitations for what was called a great 
 
 was his son by his second wife, Mary of Modena. James died 
 in 1 70 1. His death was a great advantage to the Jacobites, 
 for he had been very unpopular, while nothing was known 
 against his son. 
 
 N N 
 
546 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 hunting party, but was really a council of war. A 
 number of Highland noblemen and gentlemen at- 
 tended, and promised to raise all the troops they 
 could collect. On September 6 Lord Mar raised the 
 standard of " King James, Eighth of Scotland and 
 Third of England," at the village of Kirkmichael. No 
 more than sixty men were present, and these were 
 much disturbed to see the gold ball at the top of the 
 standard fall off. But this small band soon increased. 
 Clan after clan joined it, and before the end of the 
 month nearly all the country north of the Tay had 
 risen for King James. 
 
 In the south of England, the Jacobites could do 
 nothing at all. The Government put the chief men 
 belonging to the party in prison, and so frightened 
 the others that when the Duke of Ormond, who was 
 to lead the insurrection in that part of the country, 
 came over, he did not find a single person to join 
 him. But in the north, where their party was much 
 stronger, they rose, with a gentleman of Northumber- 
 land of the name of Forster for their leader. They 
 were joined before long by a party from the south- 
 west of Scotland, led by Lord Kenmure, and afterwards 
 by two thousand men under a certain Brigadier 
 Macintosh. Macintosh had been sent by Lord Mar 
 to seize Edinburgh. This he was not able to do. 
 Accordingly he marched south, crossed the Border 
 
THE 'IS. 547 
 
 into England, and joined his forces with those led by 
 Mr. Forster and Lord Kenmure. It was but a small 
 army, scarcely more than two thousand men in all. 
 It defeated, however, almost without having to strike 
 a blow, a hasty levy of ten thousand men, with which 
 the Bishop of Carlisle and Lord Lonsdale sought to 
 stop their advance. This was at Penrith. The army 
 then advanced into Lancashire, where its numbers 
 were greatly increased. The new-comers, however, 
 were but poorly armed, some of them having neither 
 swords nor muskets, but only pitchforks and scythes. 
 
 The end of this expedition was very inglorious 
 indeed. The Jacobites took up their position at 
 Preston, and if they had been under a capable leader, 
 they might have made a long resistance. But Mr. 
 Forster, who was in command, seems to have had no 
 skill in war, and no courage. He did nothing to 
 defend the approaches to Preston, especially the 
 bridge over the Ribble. This was so important that 
 when the English general saw that it was not occu- 
 pied, he felt quite sure that the Jacobites must have 
 left the town. Even then the place was not easily 
 taken. The English troops — there were not more 
 than a thousand of them — attacked it, but were 
 beaten back. In spite of this success, Forster in- 
 sisted on treating for surrender. The next day the 
 army laid down their arms. Many had taken the 
 
548 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Opportunity of escaping, but 1400 prisoners gave 
 themselves up. This took place on November 13. 
 
 On the very same day the insurrectionN in Scotland 
 also came to an end, though this end was not quite so 
 discreditable. The English Government had given 
 the command here to the Duke of Argyll, chief of 
 the powerful clan of the Campbells, and a man of 
 great ability. Lord Mar, on the contrary, was about 
 as poor a general as Mr. Forster. He stopped in 
 Perth doing nothing ; whereas, if he had only bestirred 
 himself, he might, it is possible, have gained over the 
 whole of Scotland. At length, on November 10, he 
 marched southward. More men joined him as he 
 went, till he had about ten thousand in all, but they 
 were a very mixed and rough multitude, ill-armed, and 
 with little or no discipline. The Duke of Argyll, on 
 the other hand, had between three and four thousand 
 men, but they were all regular troops. The two 
 armies met on a tract of open country, near Dumb- 
 lane, known by the name of Sheriffmuir. 
 
 The Duke of Argyll was on the right wing o^ the 
 loyal army. The enemy opposite supposed them- 
 selves to be protected by a marsh that lay between the 
 two armies, but the Duke reckoned that the ground 
 would -be hardened by the frost that had happened 
 in the night, and sent some of his cavalry across it. 
 He followed with the rest, and charged the Jacobites 
 
THE '15. 549 
 
 SO fiercely as to break their line. They gave wa};, and 
 were forced back to the river Allan, which was three 
 miles in their rear ; many were drowned in attempt- 
 ing to cross the stream. This part of the Jacobite 
 army was nearly destro}'ed. 
 
 Meanwhile things had been going very differently 
 on the other side of the field. The Highlanders 
 under Lord Mar, enraged by the death of the Chief of 
 Clanronald, who had fallen by the first volley fired 
 from the English ranks, made a furious charge. They 
 thrust aside the soldiers' bayonets with their targets 
 or shields, struck fiercely with their broadswords, and 
 in a few minutes completely routed the English 
 left wing. The English general fled from the field 
 as fast as he could gallop, and did not stop till he 
 found himself in Stirling. If the victorious High- 
 landers had followed up their success, they might 
 have gained a complete victory. But there were 
 divisions among them. What remained of the centre 
 and left of the English army was able to join the 
 Duke. Even then, as Argyll was leading his troops 
 in view of the rebel army, they might have been 
 scattered by a single charge. But Mar did nothing, 
 and even retreated. The Duke, on the other hand, 
 remained on the field of battle, and had some reason 
 to claim the victory. 
 
 But whoever it was that won or lost this battle. 
 
550 
 
 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 there was no more fighting. The Pretender himself, 
 it is true, landed in Scotland on December 22. He 
 bestowed some honours on his followers, named a 
 council, issued some proclamations, and fixed a day 
 for his coronation. But his cause was really hopeless. 
 It had been expected by his followers that he would 
 bring an army with him. But he came almost alone. 
 Louis XIV., who had promised to help him, had died 
 a few months before, and the French Government was 
 
 
 THE TOWER OF LONDON. 
 
 not now friendly to him. He had himself expected 
 to find a great number of men ready to follow him, and 
 he saw only a few hundreds. It was clearly useless 
 to do anything more. On February 4 he left Scot- 
 land. A few days afterwards, what was left of the 
 army dispersed. The leaders and oflRcers fled from 
 the country — Lord Mar had gone with the Pretender — 
 the soldiers returned to their own homes. 
 
 The English Government did not behave with any 
 great severity to its prisoners. The most important 
 
THE '45- 551 
 
 of these were the noblemen who had surrendered at 
 Preston. Six of these pleaded guilty. Of the six, 
 three were reprieved ; two, the Earls of Derwentwater 
 and Kenmure, were executed, and one, Lord Nithis- 
 dale, escaped from the Tower of London, through the 
 courage of his wife. This lady had tried in vain all 
 possible means of obtaining mercy for her husband. 
 On the evening before the day appointed for his 
 execution, she visited his cell, taking two women 
 with her, to bid good-bye, as was supposed, to the 
 condemned man. One of them had upon her a second 
 set of clothes. In these the Earl was dressed ; his 
 face and hair were disguised ; and he passed out 
 unsuspected by the guard. 
 
 Of the other insurgents but few were executed, and 
 among these were certain half-pay officers, who were 
 considered, not without reason, to be specially guilty. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE '45. 
 
 In the '15, the Prince for whom the Jacobites 
 risked or lost their lives and property did not show 
 himself till all the fighting was over. I am now going 
 
552 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 to tell the story of the '45 ; we shall see that things 
 were very different. It was the Prince who began 
 the insurrection ; if he had not come, it never would 
 have been made. 
 
 I must first say who this Prince was. In 17 19 the 
 " Old Pretender," of whom you heard in the last 
 chapter, married Clementina Sobieski, daughter of 
 the King of Poland. In 1721 a son was born, 
 who was named Charles Edward, and is commonly 
 known as the " Young Pretender." It was he who 
 was the hero of the '45. 
 
 On July 13 he set sail from Pelle Isle, which 
 is in the north of the Bay of Biscay. He had 
 with him two French ships of war; the larger, the 
 Elizabeth^ carried the stores which he^ had been 
 able to collect ; in the smaller, La Doiitelle, he him- 
 self sailed with a few companions. On their way 
 they fell in with a British man-of-war, the Lion. 
 A fierce fight took place between the Elizabeth 
 and the Lion, in which both ships were so much 
 injured that they had to put back into harbour. La 
 Dontelle took no part in the fight, though the Prince 
 was anxious to do so. Accordingly he was able to 
 proceed on his voyage, but his stores were left behind 
 in the ElizabetJi. On July 27 he landed on a small 
 island among the Hebrides. At first he found the 
 chiefs anything but eager to take up arms, for 
 
THE '45- 553 
 
 they thought that there was but Httle chance of 
 success. 
 
 ]kit the Prince persuaded many who began by 
 
 THE YOUNG PRETENDER. 
 
 refusing to join him. He was a tall and handsome 
 young man, who charmed every one that came near 
 him. One of the most powerful chiefs in the High- 
 
554 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 lands, Cameron of Lochiel, felt quite sure the attempt 
 must fail. The Prince sent for him. On his way he 
 saw his brother, and told him where he was going, 
 and what he should say. " Don't go," said the brother, 
 " write to him. I know you better than you know 
 yourself. If this Prince once sets eyes upon you, he 
 will make you do whatever he pleases." And so it 
 was. For some time Lochiel stood firm. But when 
 the Prince, after a long argument, finished by 
 saying, " Charles Stuart is come over to claim the 
 crown of his ancestors or perish in the attempt ; 
 Lochiel, who, my father has often told me, was our 
 firmest friend, may stay at home, and learn from the 
 newspapers the fate of his Prince," he gave way and 
 promised his help. If Lochiel had stood firm, there 
 would have been no war. 
 
 On August 1 6 the first fighting took place. Two 
 companies of soldiers on their way to P'ort William 
 were taken prisoners. Two days afterwards the 
 Royal standard was raised at Glenfinnan. Men 
 continued to flock in from various Highland clans. 
 When the Prince set out on the following day on his 
 march southward he had 1600 men with him. 
 
 On August 16 General Cope, who was in com- 
 mand of the English troops, s^t out from Edinburgh, 
 intending to march to Eort Augustus. He had got 
 as far as Dalwhinnie, which is about fifty miles 
 
THE '45- 555 
 
 north of Perth, when he heard that the Highlanders 
 had occupied a strong pass between that place and 
 the Fort. He then gave up his plan, and marched to 
 Inverness. The Prince, finding that there was no one 
 to hinder him, marched south. As he went on, chiefs 
 and nobles continued to join him, nor did he meet 
 any resistance, except a few cannon shot which were 
 fired from Stirling Castle. On September 14 he was 
 only a few miles from Edinburgh. This city was 
 really without defence. The walls were scarcely 
 higher or stronger than a common garden wall, and 
 had no cannon mounted on them ; there were no 
 regular troops, except some dragoons, and these soon 
 showed that they could not be trusted. General 
 Cope's army was, it is true, on its way back ; but it was 
 doubted whether it could arrive in time. While the 
 magistrates were debating whether they should resist 
 or surrender, Lochiel with his Camerons made his 
 way within the walls without having to strike a blow. 
 Thus, on September 1 7, the Prince became possessed 
 of Edinburgh. At noon James VHI. was proclaimed 
 king at the Cross, and shortly after the Prince took 
 possession of Holyrood Palace. Only the Castle still 
 remained in the power of the English Government. 
 
 On the same day that the Prince entered Edinburgh 
 General Cope landed his army at Dunbar. The next 
 day he marched northward ; the Prince, on the other 
 
556 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 hand, marched southward, and on September 20 
 the two armies met. They were nearly equal in 
 number, about 2500 on each side, but Cope's troops 
 were better armed, and had six cannon. The High- 
 landers had no cannon, and many of the men were 
 without fire-arms. 
 
 The battle lasted but a few minutes. The High- 
 landers shouted, each clan its own war-cry, and ran 
 furiously forward. They came first to the cannon. 
 The sailors who served them fled without waiting 
 to be attacked. Colonel Gardiner, w^ho commanded 
 the dragoons on the left wing, led them to the 
 charge, but they would not follow him. As soon as 
 the Highlanders drew their broadswords and came 
 on, the men turned and fled. Very much the 
 same thing happened with the other regiment of 
 dragoons on the other wing. So the infantry was left 
 without either guns or cavalry to support them. 
 They stood firm for awhile, and fired a volley on the 
 enemy. But the Highlanders rushed upon them, 
 thrust aside their bayonets with their targets, and 
 broke up their line. The» dragoons for the most part 
 got away, for there was no cavalr}^ to follow them, 
 but of the infantry nearly all were killed or taken 
 prisoners. The Highlanders lost about a hundred 
 men in killed and wounded. Such was the battle of 
 Prcstonpans or Gladsmuir. 
 
THE '45. 557 
 
 Some of his friends now advised the Prince to 
 march without delay into England, and even make his 
 way to London ; but most of them were against this 
 plan. If he would wait awhile, they said, great 
 numbers more would join him. As it was, he had 
 fewer soldiers with him than he had before the battle, 
 for many of the Highlanders had gone back to their 
 homes in the mountains with the plunder which they 
 had collected. Indeed, at one time, he had no more 
 than 1500 men left. Nevertheless, it might have 
 been better for him if he had hurried on at once. 
 
 It was quite true, however, that great numbers were 
 ready to join him. Every day recruits flocked in 
 both from the Highlands and the Lowlands. In the 
 course of a few weeks as many as 6000 men were 
 collected. The officers did their best to drill them, 
 and give them proper arms, but it was impossible to 
 make them into a regular army. 
 
 The great question now was — what was to be done } 
 Should they stop in Scotland, or advance into Eng- 
 land .'' The Prince was for advancing. If he was to 
 keep Scotland he must conquer England. And, 
 beyond all doubt, he was quite right. But most of 
 his advisers did not think so. What they hoped to 
 see was a Scottish kingdom under a Stuart king, and 
 they were altogether against any attempt upon Eng- 
 land. But the Prince was determined to go. " I see, 
 
558 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 gentlemen, you are determined to stay in Scotland 
 and defend your country, but I am not less resolved 
 to try my fate in England, though I should go alone." 
 Then the chiefs gave way. On October 31 the 
 Prince left Edinburgh. Eight days later the army 
 crossed the Border. The Highlanders gave a great 
 shout as they passed into England, but it was thought 
 to be a very unlucky sign that Lochiel, in drawing his 
 broadsword, cut his hand. Carlisle was besieged and 
 taken with very little loss, one Highlander being killed 
 and another wounded. The Prince entered Carlisle 
 on November 17. Again there was the question 
 whether he should return to Scotland or proceed 
 further into England. The Prince was determined to 
 go on, but many of his men left him. When he 
 reached Penrith only 4500 of his 6000 remained.^ 
 Everywhere as he passed he found the people curious 
 to see him, and even ready to cheer. But there were 
 very few willing to help. At Manchester, two or three 
 hundred men enlisted ; but, on the whole, Lancashire 
 was far less zealous for the cause than it had been 
 thirty years before. There were, indeed, some zealous 
 friends. One old lady, who had been held up in her 
 mother's arms eighty-five years before to see Charles 
 n. land at Dover, and who had always devoted half 
 her income to the cause, sold all her jewels and 
 ^ He had left a srarrison of 200 in Carlisle. 
 
THE '45. 559 
 
 brought the price to the Prince, saying, as she kissed 
 his hand, " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart 
 in peace." But the people cared Httle for King James, 
 though probably they cared no more for King 
 George. 
 
 Still the Prince went on, and on December 11 
 entered Derby. But he went no further. There had 
 been no rising of the English people in his favour, nor 
 had a French army been landed to give him help, 
 and his councillors declared that there was nothing left 
 but to go back to Scotland. They had good reasons to 
 give for their advice. The Prince had but 5000 men 
 with him, and the forces of the English Government 
 were at least six times as numerous. And then all 
 his hopes of help had been disappointed. Yet it is 
 quite certain that the Prince, who was still eager to go 
 on, was right. And, indeed, London, which was only 
 one hundred and twenty-seven miles distant, was in 
 a great fright. The shops were shut, the banks were 
 thronged by people drawing out all their money, and 
 King George himself, it is said, put his most valuable 
 property on shipboard. The day on which the news 
 came that the Pretender was at Derby, and that there 
 was no army between him and London, was long 
 remembered as Black Friday. 
 
 But the experiment of advancing was, happily, not 
 tried. " Happily," I say, because if it had succeeded, it 
 
56o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 must have ended in a long civil war, for it is impossible 
 to suppose that PZngland would have been content 
 to let the Stuarts rule again. Much against his will, 
 the Prince consented to retreat. On December 20 his 
 army crossed the Border again. Six days later it 
 reached Glasgow. By this time it had dwindled down 
 to just over 4000 men. But now it was increased 
 again. Various nobles and chiefs had raised bodies of 
 troops, and these all joined the Prince. When he 
 reached Stirling he had as many as 9000 men. 
 
 The general in command of the English army was 
 the Duke of Cumberland, the second son of King 
 George II. But he had been called away to take 
 charge of the forces on the south coast of England, 
 which the French were preparing to invade. He 
 appointed a certain General Hawley to act for him, 
 and Hawley had marched to attack the Prince at 
 Stirling. He halted at Falkirk, which is about ten 
 miles to the south. There a battle was fought, and 
 lost by the English, partly through the folly and 
 neglect of their general. He despised his adversaries 
 as being nothing better than an ill-armed mob, and 
 was actually absent from his place when the battle 
 began. The dragoons again behaved badly. They 
 were ordered to charge the right wing of the enemy. 
 But the Macdonalds who stood over against them 
 kept back their fire till the horsemen were near them. 
 
THE '45. 561 
 
 and then sent among them a destructive volley. Two 
 of the regiments broke at once ; the third stood firm 
 for a while, but were soon compelled to retreat. Then 
 the Macdonalds charged and fell on the flank of the 
 infantry in the centre of the line, which was being 
 attacked at the same time in front. The soldiers had 
 been tired early in the day, by having to march 
 through a storm of wind and rain, and were now 
 numbed with standing still. They had little courage 
 left, and, like the cavalry, turned to fly. The Prince's 
 left wing had not done nearly so well ; the English 
 here were sheltered by some rough ground, and the 
 Highlanders' attack was repulsed. Yet here, too, the 
 English were forced to retreat. They could not stand 
 their ground alone. 
 
 The conquerors did not make the best of their 
 victory. If they had, they might have almost 
 destroyed the defeated army. But they did not fully 
 know what had happened, and besides, the light 
 failed them. At that time of the year — the 
 battle of Falkirk 1 was fought on January 17 — 
 the days are very short, and it is very dangerous, 
 especially with untrained troops, to move in the dark. 
 As it was, General Hawley lost 400 men killed, 100 
 prisoners, and all his artillery, ammunition, and 
 
 ^ In the latitude of Falkirk (56^), the sun sets little later than 
 three o'clock. The battle did not begin till two o'clock. 
 
 o o 
 
562 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTOR Y. 
 
 baggage, and was also compelled to burn his tents, 
 lest they should fall into the hands of the enemy. 
 The Prince, however, got little real advantage from his 
 victory. His officers quarrelled, blaming each other 
 that the English had not been more vigorously pursued, 
 and many of the Highlanders hurried home with their 
 plunder. An unlucky accident that happened on the 
 day after the battle also did him much harm. A gun 
 which one of the Macdonalds was examining, went off 
 and killed a son of Glengarry, who happened to be 
 passing. The Glengarry clan insisted upon the man 
 being put to death. Nor were they satisfied with this, 
 for the greater part left the army and returned home. 
 Not long after, the Prince was again compelled by his 
 counsellors to retreat. On February i the army left 
 Stirling, having first spiked the heavy guns and 
 blown up the powder magazine. On the i8th of the 
 month it reached Inverness. Here it was quartered 
 for some eight weeks, growing weaker and weaker 
 every day. The Prince could neither pay nor feed 
 his army. The country about Inverness was so poor 
 that he could get little from it, and most of the 
 supplies which should have reached him by sea were 
 captured by British ships. It was only to be expected 
 that men who had neither food nor money to buy it 
 with should grow tired of the service. By April 1 5 
 — on this day each man received nothing but a single 
 
THE '45. 563 
 
 biscuit — the 9000 men whom the Prince had with 
 him at Stirling had dwindled down to 5000. The 
 English army under the Duke of Cumberland was 
 nearly twice as numerous, consisting of 8000 infantry 
 and 900 cavalry. 
 
 The Prince and his advisers planned a night attack 
 on the Duke's army. It failed ; the troops started too 
 late, many of them having straggled away in search of 
 food, and moved too slowly, so that it was nearly 
 dawn when they reached the English camp. They 
 fell back, and took up the position which they had 
 held before on Culloden Moor, otherwise Drummossie, 
 tired by their useless march, and, as usual, hungry. 
 The best officers in the army were for withdrawing 
 to a stronger position, where the Duke would have 
 to begin the attack, but the Prince had a strange 
 idea that he was bound to fight where the ground 
 gave no advantage to either side. Everything was 
 against him, even the order of battle, for the 
 Macdonalds were put on the left wing, and were so 
 offended by the slight, as they thought it, that at a 
 critical moment of the battle they refused to advance. 
 
 The battle began with a cannonade. This was also 
 in favour of the English, whose guns were served by 
 men that knew their business. Then the Highlanders 
 of the right and centre charged. At first they did 
 again what they had done before at Prcstonpans and 
 
564 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 at Falkirk, and broke the enemy's line. But the Duke 
 had provided for this chance. Behind the first line 
 was a second, three deep, the first rank kneeling, the 
 second bending forward, the third standing upright. 
 The line kept back its fire till the Highlanders were 
 close, and then poured a heavy volley into them. 
 Like other soldiers whose first charge is almost 
 irresistible, they had little spirit left for a second. 
 This part of the Prince's army was broken. On the 
 left, as has been said, the Macdonalds refused to fight. 
 Their chief advanced, but they would not follow him ; 
 they were not moved even when they saw him fall. 
 
 One more chance was left. If the Prince had 
 charged with all that remained of his army, he might 
 have even then changed the fortune of the day. He 
 had often said that he would either conquer or die, 
 and now was the time to keep his word. That he did 
 not do so is certain ; but it is not easy to say whether 
 he was right or wrong. We do not even know for certain 
 what he did. According to one account he was urged 
 to charge and refused ; according to another he was 
 forced against his will from the field by two officers, 
 who laid hold of his horse's bridle, exactly as his great- 
 grandfather had been a hundred years before on the 
 fatal field at Naseby.^ 
 
 I must now bring this chapter to an end. I am glad 
 
 ^ See p. 436. 
 
PLASSE y. 565 
 
 to say nothing about the cruelty with which the 
 Duke of Cumberland used his victory, and I must 
 leave you to read elsewhere the romantic story of how 
 the Prince escaped. Now hiding, now wandering 
 about in disguise among the islands off the western 
 coast, or on the mainland, he continued to avoid his 
 pursuers for nearly half-a-year. Many helped him, 
 some of them persons who did not favour his cause, 
 but two must be specially mentioned. Flora Mac- 
 donald, of South Uist, and Macdonald of Kingsburgh. 
 At length, on September 20, 1746, he embarked at 
 the very spot where he had landed fourteen months 
 before, and escaped to France. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 PLASSEY. 
 
 In the year 1600 Queen Elizabeth gave a charter 
 to a Company of Merchants under the title of " The 
 Governor and Company of Merchants of London 
 trading to the East Indies." For some time the East 
 India Company, as it came to be called, was a very 
 humble affair. It built, by leave of the native rulers 
 
566 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 of India, factories or places for trade. But these 
 were never safe from attack, either from the natives 
 or from European rivals. The Dutch, for instance, 
 in 1623 destroyed the factory of Amboyna, and 
 murdered all its inhabitants. Nevertheless, the Com- 
 pany's power and wealth gradually increased. A 
 factory was founded on the Hoogly river in 1642. 
 This is now Calcutta. In 1661 Bombay was handed 
 over to England as part of the dowry of the 
 Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, who 
 became in that year the wife of Charles II. Madras, 
 the chief city of the third of the three great divisions 
 or presidencies, as they are called, was bought from 
 an Indian Rajah or Prince for a yearly payment 
 of ;^500. 
 
 In .1743 one Robert Clive received an appointment 
 as " writer," £ ^. clerk in the East India Company's 
 factory at Madras. He was certainly not a good clerk; 
 the work was not of a kind that he liked, and he 
 neglected it, and he gave much trouble to his superiors. 
 In 1747 he ceased to be a clerk and became a soldier. 
 As a soldier he was to do his country such services 
 as have never been surpassed. Many able statesmen 
 and brave and skilful soldiers have helped to build up 
 our great Indian Empire, but no one of them did 
 more than Robert Clive, and very few did as much. 
 
 A Frenchman, Dupleix by name, had conceived 
 
PLASSEY. 567 
 
 the idea of gaining India for France. To do this he 
 had to conquer or persuade the Indian rulers, and 
 also to drive out the English. For a time his plans 
 seemed to prosper, but it was Clive who hindered 
 them from being accomplished. He persuaded the 
 Governor of Madras to allow him to occupy the fort 
 of Arcot. The place seemed hardly capable of 
 standing a siege. The walls were low, the towers 
 upon it ruinous, the ditch half filled up. Clive did 
 his best to strengthen these defences. Though he 
 lost four of the eight officers who were serving under 
 him, and though his garrison was at last reduced to 
 200 native troops^ and 120 Europeans, he contrived 
 to hold out for fifty days against an army of 10,000 
 men. The siege was raised, other victories were won, 
 Dupleix was recalled to France, and the natives began 
 to look to the English rather than to the French as 
 the nation that could not be conquered. 
 
 This was in 175 1. Five years later a terrible thing 
 happened in another part of India. The Nawab of 
 Bengal, Suraj-ud-Dowlah by name, picked a quarrel 
 with the English at Calcutta, seized the town, and 
 compelled the fort to surrender. The prisoners, one 
 hundred and forty-six in number, were thrust into 
 a chamber about twenty feet each way, afterwards 
 
 * Called " Sepoys." Sipah is a Persian word meaning 
 "army," hence sipahi^ a soldier, a sepoy. 
 
568 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 known as the Black Hole. After a night of dreadful 
 suffering from suffocation and thirst, only twenty- 
 three were found alive next morning. The Govern- 
 ment of Madras at once sent Clive to punish the 
 Nawab for his wrong-doing, and to recover Calcutta. 
 Calcutta he recovered without any difficulty, and 
 won other victories so speedily, that the Nawab was 
 compelled to ask for peace, and to give back to 
 the English all that they had ever held in Bengal. 
 But no sooner had the treaty been signed than the 
 Nawab began to negotiate with the French. Clive 
 saw at once what had to be done. The French 
 would attempt in Bengal what Dupleix had attempted 
 in Madras, and they must be stopped at all hazards. 
 He began by seizing the French settlement of Chan- 
 dernagore. This was an illegal act, for though 
 France and England were at war, Chandernagore 
 nominally belonged to the Nawab, and could not be 
 taken without his permission. Nevertheless, Clive did 
 it. He then made friends with two of the Nawab's 
 most powerful subjects. One, Meer Jafifier by name, 
 was to succeed the Nawab ; the other, Omichund, was 
 to be rewarded by a large sum of money. 
 
 The Nawab had collected an army of 50,000 men. 
 Clive had 3000, of whom less than 1000 were 
 English. The question was — should they fight } 
 Meer Jafifier had promised to desert his master, but 
 

 -■■c^^: 
 
PLASSEY. 571 
 
 he might not keep his promise; he certainly would 
 not unless Ciive could make him feel sure that the 
 English were going to win the day. A council of 
 war was held. The majority was against fighting, 
 and Clive, strange to say, was one of the majority. 
 But a commander can always overrule the de- 
 cision of a council, and Clive had to consider again 
 what was to be done. He retired into a clump of 
 trees, and there thought the matter out, with this 
 result — that he determined to fight. The next morn- 
 ing he crossed the river, and marching during the 
 day, found himself at night-fall within reach of the 
 enemy's army. 
 
 The next day, June 23, the Nawab drew up his 
 forces in order of battle. Clive's army was in front 
 of a mango grove. He had one regiment, the 
 39th.^ This he put in the centre, the native troops 
 and the few small guns that he had being on either 
 side. Cavalry he had none. The Nawab had 
 12,000, 36,000 infantry, and a number of heavy guns, 
 some of them served by French artillerymen. The 
 Nawab's guns opened fire with such effect that Clive 
 had to withdraw into the mango grove, which was 
 protected by mud-banks all round it. Here he in- 
 tended to wait. At night he would attack the enemy's 
 
 ^ Now known as the Dorsetshire Regiment, and bearing, in 
 memory of this victory, the motto Primus in hidis. 
 
572 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 camp. While he waited a heavy storm of rain came 
 on, and so spoilt the enemy's powder that the cannon- 
 ade was almost stopped. The commander of the 
 Nawab's cavalry, Meer Mudin, thinking that the 
 English guns also were disabled, advanced to attack 
 Clive's position. But the guns had been under cover, 
 and fired a discharge of grape shot which drove the 
 enemy back in confusion, Meer Mudin himself being 
 killed. The Nawab, dismayed at this reverse, ordered 
 his army to retreat into the camp, and himself fled 
 from the field. Clive now advanced with his whole 
 force. The French artillerymen offered a brave 
 resistance, but there was no one to support them. 
 As for the Nawab's infantry, they fled almost without 
 waiting for a blow. The Nawab had deserted his 
 army early in the day, and the rest of their leaders 
 followed the example of their chief. Clive won the 
 battle, and with it a vast extent of territory, at a cost 
 of less than a hundred in killed and wounded. This 
 was the first great victory of Plassey. 
 
QUEBEC, 573 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 QUEBEC. 
 
 James Wolfe was the son of a soldier who had 
 fought under Marlborough, and set his mind from his 
 earliest days on being a soldier himself. In 1740, when 
 he was only thirteen, he volunteered to join the ex- 
 pedition to Cartagena. Luckily, something prevented 
 him from going, for the affair was a terrible failure, 
 and many who went never came back. Two years 
 afterwards, at an age when it is a rare thing for a boy 
 to be in the head form of a public school, he received a 
 commission, and carried the colours of his regiment 
 when the King reviewed the troops at Blackheath. 
 The following year (June 27) he fought at Dettingen, 
 the last battle in which an English king actually led 
 his troops. He not only fought, but distinguished 
 himself, for in default of any older officer to take the 
 place, he had to act as adjutant. After the battle, he 
 was made lieutenant and adjutant, and the year fol- 
 lowing was promoted to be captain. Four years more 
 saw him a major — he had been present meanwhile 
 
574 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 at Falkirk and Culloden — and his regiment had the 
 reputation of being the best drilled in the army. 
 
 From 1748 (the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle) to 1756 
 there was, in name at least, peace between England 
 and France. But in North America the French and 
 English settlers were at war. In 1755 George Wash- 
 ington, of whom I shall have to say much in the 
 next chapter, fought a mixed force of Indians and 
 French on the Ohio. The same year, General Brad- 
 dock led some troops into the backwoods. Braddock, 
 never a good soldier, was particularly unfit to com- 
 mand in such an expedition. He was surprised and 
 routed. Two-thirds of his troops were killed or taken. 
 With Braddock was a company of Wolfe's own regi- 
 ment, the 20th. Happily he was not with it. He was 
 reserved for greater things. 
 
 Pitt had kept his eye on young Wolfe ever since 
 the day when he had fought so well at Dettingen. 
 When war was declared with France (May i, 1756) 
 he remembered him as an officer who might do 
 good service. The first attempt to strike was a 
 failure. An expedition was sent against La Rochelle, 
 but it did nothing. In this Wolfe held the post of 
 Quartermaster-General. In the early part of the 
 following year, he received a sudden summons to 
 London. An army was to be sent to Cape Breton, 
 and he was to be brigadier. The special object 
 
QUEBEC, 575 
 
 which Wolfe had before him was the port of Louis- 
 burg, then an important place. For some days the 
 troops could not land, for the fog was thick, and the 
 sea was rough. But on June 2 (1758) the boats were 
 ordered out. Wolfe was the first man to leap ashore. 
 After about two months of hard work, Wolfe being 
 
 
 ■ ^S^- Is^U^^ W 
 
 --^5:^4; 
 
 kmi^^- 
 
 QUEBEC. 
 
 all along the most active in pushing the siege, 
 Louisburg surrendered. He had to go home on 
 account of ill health, but he came out again early 
 the next year. His object was now Quebec itself, the 
 capital of French Canada. 
 
 The first thing was to take the fleet safely up the 
 St. Lawrence river. The navig-ation was difficult, and 
 
576 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 to the English unknown. The device of hoisting 
 flags that bore the French LiHes was practised. 
 Canadian pilots hastened to offer their services, and 
 found, when they were on board, that the Lilies were 
 changed for the Cross of St. George. Doubtless they 
 were made to understand that, though they were good 
 subjects of the French king, they must not run the 
 English ships aground. However this may be, the 
 English fleet reached Quebec in safety, not a little to 
 the surprise of the French. " They have brought 
 forty ships of war," wrote one of the Quebec people, 
 "where we should be afraid to take a vessel of a 
 hundred tons." The presence of the fleet was of 
 immense advantage to General Wolfe — he had the 
 rank of general though he was really only a colonel. 
 He could move hither and thither as he pleased — the 
 enemy had no power to hinder him. Their fleet was 
 much weaker, and what there was had been sent fur- 
 ther up the river out of harm's way. One thing that 
 Wolfe soon did was to set up some batteries on the 
 bank opposite to Quebec. The St. Lawrence here is 
 scarcely a mile broad. The English cannon soon laid 
 a great part of the city in ruins. An attempt to 
 destroy the batteries, made by a party of volunteers 
 from the city, failed completely. Still, the governor 
 of the city and the Marquis Montcalm (who was in 
 command of the army encamped outside) had no fear 
 
QUEBEC, 577 
 
 that the city might be taken. " The EngHsh," they 
 
 said, "will not be mad enough to attempt it." And 
 
 indeed it seemed quite impossible that the city should 
 
 be taken. It stands on a narrow strip of land between 
 
 the two rivers, St. Lawrence and Charles, and looks 
 
 eastward down the St. Lawrence. Behind it, /. e. to 
 
 the westward, is some high ground known as the 
 
 Heights or Plains of Abraham. On the river side 
 
 there are steep cliffs, which seem to be quite beyond 
 
 all climbing. Yet it was in this way that Wolfe 
 
 determined to approach the city. He made an 
 
 attempt to take up a position lower down on the left 
 
 bank of the St. Lawrence, but it failed. Then came 
 
 three weeks of severe illness, and nothing was done. 
 
 He was suffering from a deadly disease, but his spirit 
 
 and courage were not in the least broken. " Give me 
 
 a few days without pain," he said to his doctor. If 
 
 he could only get to work, he felt that Quebec 
 
 might be taken. And he took it. 
 
 He had noticed, between two or three miles above 
 
 the city, a place where the line of cliffs was broken. 
 
 From this a path led up to the Plains of Abraham. 
 
 If he could land his men here, and get them up 
 
 to the top without hindrance, he felt that his work 
 
 was done. He had fewer soldiers, it is true, than 
 
 Montcalm, but they were all of the best quality. 
 
 After dark on September 12, the army embarked 
 
 p p 
 
57^ STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 on some flat-bottomed boats and dropped quietly 
 down the river on the ebb tide. Wolfe, as they 
 went, repeated to his companions Gray's Elegy m a 
 Country Churchyard (published eight years before), 
 saying, when he had finished it, " I would rather 
 be the author of that piece than take Quebec." The 
 boats glided into the cove, and the troops landed 
 without any hindrance. They made their way up the 
 narrow path — so narrow that two men only could 
 walk abreast — and reached the level ground at the top 
 in safety. There was a small body of men on guard 
 at the top, but a volley of musketry sent them flying. 
 Wolfe had about 3500 men, for part of his 5000 had 
 been left to guard the landing-place, and part was sent 
 to guard against an attack from the rear. As soon as 
 it was sufficiently light, this force was drawn up in 
 line facing Quebec. Montcalm, who had heard the 
 firing, rode in the direction of the Plains, saw the red 
 coats of the English regiments, and at once made up 
 his mind to fight. This was the only chance of saving 
 the city. He had rather more than double the number 
 of men, not counting the Indians. At ten o'clock, the 
 French line advanced, somewhat unsteadily. Wolfe 
 would not allow his troops to return the fire until the 
 enemy were within forty yards. Then th~ey poured into 
 the advancing line so heavy a volley as to break it at 
 once. Without allowing the enemy time to re-form 
 
QUEBEC. 579 
 
 their ranks, Wolfe led his men to the charge. A bullet 
 struck him on the wrist, but he wrapped his handker- 
 chief round it and pressed on. His uniform made 
 him a conspicuous figure, and the Canadian riflemen, 
 deadly shots, though not disciplined enough to stand 
 steady under the shock of battle, made him their 
 mark. A second bullet struck him in the groin. 
 Even that could not stop him, but the third, hitting 
 him in the breast, brought him to the ground. He 
 was carried to the rear. When they asked whether 
 a surgeon should be sent for, he said, *' No, it is all 
 over with me." For a time he seemed to become 
 unconscious. Then there was a cry, " They run ! 
 They run ! " " Who run 1 " cried the dying man. 
 "The enemy, sir," replied one of those about him. 
 " They give way everywhere ! " Wolfe raised himself 
 Faithful to his duty to the last, he did not forget 
 that the victory must be made as complete as possible. 
 " Go, one of you, back to Colonel Burton," he said ; 
 "tell him to march Webb's regiment with all speed 
 down to the river to cut off the retreat of the fugitives 
 from the bridge.'' He then turned upon his side, and 
 with the words *' Now God be praised I die in 
 peace," he passed away. 
 
 The loss of the British was ^y killed, and about 
 seven times as many wounded. The French loss was 
 500 killed or mortally wounded, and twice as many 
 
58o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 taken prisoners. The Marquis Montcalm died soon 
 after, and on the i/th Quebec surrendered. France 
 lost Canada at the battle of Quebec. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE LOST COLONIES. 
 
 Wolfe's victory at Quebec won, as I have said, 
 Canada for England, but it did something to lose 
 possessions far more valuable, the Colonies between 
 the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. Of these 
 Colonies there were thirteen,^ founded at various times 
 from 1622 to 1733. They were different in many 
 ways, but in one thing they were agreed, and that was 
 the fear of France. As long as they felt this fear, 
 they could not help looking to England to protect 
 them; when this was removed, they began to consider 
 whether they should not do better if they stood alone. 
 England was ready enough to protect them against 
 any foreign enemy ; but, in return for this protection, 
 
 ^ Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Maryland, New 
 York, New jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island, 
 Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts. 
 
THE LOST COLONIES. 581 
 
 it desired to make all the gain it could out of them. 
 It compelled them to buy various articles in England, 
 laid duties on goods sent from one colony to another, 
 and tax^d various things, such as printed books and 
 the like, that were imported from England. Many of 
 the taxes imposed were afterwards repealed, but a 
 duty on tea was retained ; it was about tea that the 
 final quarrel took place. The people of Boston in 
 Massachusetts threw many thousand pounds' worth 
 of it into the harbour sooner than allow duty to be 
 paid upon it, and the English Parliament, to punish 
 them, passed an Act by which it was forbidden to 
 import any goods at all into Boston. This, of course, 
 destroyed the trade of the town, and it was not long 
 before there was war. 
 
 The first fighting took place at Lexington, a village 
 in Massachusetts, about fifteen miles from Boston. 
 The Colonists had collected at Concord, undoubtedly 
 in preparation for war, a quantity of arms and ammu- 
 nition. The governor of Boston sent some troops 
 to destroy these stores. On their way they found 
 some militiamen assembled on Lexington Green. 
 They fired a volley and dispersed them, and going 
 into Concord destroyed the stores. On their way 
 back they were fired upon by a number of riflemen, 
 who lined the hedges, and lost many in killed and 
 wounded. 
 
582 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 After Lexington came Bunker's Hill. This is one 
 of two hills which are outside Boston, on the left 
 bank of the River Charles. The other is called 
 Breed Hill, and this it was that the Colonist occu- 
 pied, though somehow the battle has got its name 
 from the first. General Gage, who was in command 
 of the English troops, determined to dislodge them. 
 Everything was done in a very blundering way. The 
 troops were landed in heavy marching order, though 
 it was an exceedingly hot day (June 17, I775)» and 
 with three days' provisions, which they were very 
 unlikely to want. They were sent up to attack the 
 hill, on which the Colonists had made a breastwork, 
 at its very strongest point. They had to do with the 
 bayonet what might have been done with far less loss 
 and trouble by a cannonade from the ships. The fact 
 was, that General Gage and the other officers in 
 command did not believe that the enemy would 
 offer any serious resistance. This was found to 
 be a great mistake. Twice the soldiers were driven 
 back. The third time, when reinforced by fresh 
 troops, they took the breastwork, but the Colonists 
 retreated to a neighbouring hill, which they en- 
 trenched. The British loss was 22.6 killed, and 
 nearly four times as many wounded and missing ; as 
 the Colonists did not suffer half so much. Bunker's 
 Hill was as good as a victory. Two days before the 
 
BRADDOCK S FORCE SURPRISED, 
 
THE LOST COLONIES. 585 
 
 battle, the representatives of the Colonies had resolved 
 to raise a regular army, and to put it under the com- 
 mand of George Washington. In the winter of the 
 year the Colonists endeavoured to seize Quebec, 
 attacking it from the same Heights of Abraham on 
 which Wolfe had won his great victory ; but the affair 
 was ill-managed from beginning to end, and the 
 Colonists were repulsed with heavy loss. They kept 
 up a siege of the city, however, till May, when, some 
 troops having arrived from England, they retreated, 
 leaving behind them their guns, baggage, and stores. 
 
 On July 4 in the following year (1776) the Colon- 
 ists sent forth their famous Declaration of Inde- 
 pendence, but for some time it seemed as if they had 
 but a small chance of making good their claim to be 
 free. The British army was transferred from Boston, 
 where the population was altogether hostile to Eng- 
 land, to New York, where it was mostly friendly. 
 General Howe, who was now in command, took up a 
 position on Slaten Island, which is below New York, 
 and Washington sent a force of 10,000 men to Long 
 Island, which is near to it. Howe began by attacking 
 the Colonists, and inflicted on them a severe defeat. 
 If he had followed up the pursuit, their whole force 
 would probably have been destroyed. As it was, 
 1000 were killed, and twice as many wounded or taken 
 prisoners. The rest Washington was able to carry off, 
 
586 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 and he was also able to save some of the guns. A 
 little more than a fortnight afterwards Howe entered 
 New York. The Colonists suffered loss after loss. 
 On November 19 Washington was glad to escape 
 into New Jersey. He had only 3000 men with him, 
 and these were in a deplorable condition. The year, 
 however, was not to end without some compensation. 
 On Christmas night Washington attacked one of the 
 British posts on the Delaware River, and captured 
 900 Hessians. (The English Government, unable to 
 find soldiers enough at home, had been driven to hire 
 Germans from the Elector of Hesse.) 
 
 In the year 1777 things went very differently for the 
 Colonists. General Burgoyne started from Canada 
 with some 5000 regular troops, and a number of 
 provincials and Indians. Almost from the first every- 
 thing went wrong with him. He divided his forces, 
 though the enemy was near with superior numbers. 
 He did not know the country well enough to take the 
 best route ; and he could not keep his army properly 
 fed. The provincials and the Indians took every 
 chance of leaving him, and at last, not quite four 
 months after leaving Canada, he found himself com- 
 pelled to surrender. He had 3500 regular troops with 
 him. The capitulation of Saratoga was a blow from 
 which the British never recovered. 
 
 On February 8, 1778, an alliance was made between 
 
THE LOST COLONIES, 587 
 
 the States and France — many Frenchmen had ah'eady 
 come over to fight as volunteers in the army of the 
 Colonists — and shortly afterwards France declared 
 war against England. Fortune, however, turned 
 against the Colonists. Their French allies were of 
 little use to them., and the British were better led by 
 new generals. In December the town of Savannah, 
 in Georgia, was taken. Things went on in much the 
 same way in the year following. Washington, for 
 want of men and money, had to sit still and do nothing. 
 When the French tried in the autumn to retake 
 Savannah, they failed disastrously. In 1780 Charles- 
 ton in South Carolina was taken after a long siege. 
 
 But the war was really hopeless, and in October 1781 
 it practically came to an end with the capitulation of 
 York-town, where Lord Cornwallis surrendered with 
 an army of between six and seven thousand men. 
 For two more years there were various negotiations 
 both in America and in Europe. King George III. 
 unwillingly gave his consent to the Independence of 
 the American Colonies on December 5, 1782; but it 
 was not for nearly a year after this (November 25, 
 1783) that the British troops evacuated New York. 
 England had spent nearly two hundred millions of 
 money to no purpose. 
 
588 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 
 
 One of the most valuable possessions of England 
 is the great fortress of Gibraltar. It was taken from 
 the Spaniards with very little trouble in 1704. Many 
 attempts have been made to get it back again, for 
 indeed it must vex the Spanish people to see it in our 
 hands, as much as it would vex us to see the French 
 in possession of the Isle of Portland. The great 
 siege of which I am going to tell the story began in 
 1779. In that year war broke out between England 
 and Spain, and the Spaniards immediately blockaded 
 Gibraltar. They sent a squadron to cut off any sup- 
 plies that might come by sea, and they occupied the 
 narrow strip of ground by which the fortress can be 
 approached by land. Before long, food became scarce, 
 for there were many people to be fed ; the population 
 of the place, which is now about 18,000, may then have 
 been half as large, and there was a garrison of 5000 
 men. The Governor, Sir George Elliott, had been 
 
THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 589 
 
 very careful with the stores/ but by the end of the 
 year little was left, and many had to live on such 
 things as thistles and wild leeks. In January 1780 
 Sir George Rodney defeated the Spanish fleet, and 
 brought a large supply of provisions. But these were 
 in time exhausted, and the scarcity became as bad as 
 ever. Then, in April 1781, came another supply, and 
 the besiegers began to see that, if they were ever to 
 take the place, they must do something more than 
 blockade it. They began a bombardment, which did 
 a great deal of damage to the houses in the town, but 
 did not cause much loss to the garrison. During six 
 weeks more than fifty thousand shot and twenty thou- 
 sand shells were fired into the town, but not more than 
 twenty soldiers in all were killed. Then the Spaniards 
 began to approach the fortress with trenches and other 
 siege works. The governor, who had found out 
 from a deserter what they v^ere doing, waited for 
 an opportunity of attacking them. At midnight on 
 November 26, a body of 2000 men sallied out. 
 The besiegers were taken unawares and fled. In the 
 course of an hour all the siege works were burnt, the 
 guns spiked,^ and the stores of powder blown up. 
 
 ^ Soldiers used to powder their hair (with flour), when going on 
 guard. This was forbidden. 
 
 ^ To " spike " a gun was to make it useless by driving an iron 
 spike into the touch-hole by which the gun could be fired off. 
 This was done when there was not time to carry the guns off. 
 
590 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 About half-a-year after this, the final attempt to 
 take the place was made. The French and the 
 Spaniards were now united. They had 33,000 men 
 and 170 heavy guns. On the other hand, the British 
 garrison consisted of 7000, all tried soldiers, full of 
 spirit, and firmly resolved to stand by their brave 
 commander. The great hope of the besiegers was in 
 the floating batteries, which a French engineer had 
 invented. It was hoped that they could be made so 
 strong that no shot should make its way into them, 
 and that it should be impossible to set them on fire. 
 There were to be ten of these batteries, made out of 
 the hulks of large ships. The tops were to be proof 
 against shot and shell; the side nearest to the fort was 
 strengthened with heavy timbers seven feet thick, and 
 covered with raw hides. These batteries were moored 
 with iron chains half a gun-shot from the shore. The 
 besiegers hoped that when they had made a breach in 
 the defences, the place could be carried by assault. 
 They carried altogether 142 heavy cannon. 
 
 Sir George Elliott, on the other hand, did not lose 
 courage. His second in command suggested that 
 they might use red-hot shot against the enemy ; fur- 
 naces accordingly were prepared in various parts. 
 
 On September 13 the ten batteries took up their 
 places about six hundred yards from the shore, and 
 opened fire. For some hours the fire went on from 
 
THE GATE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN. 593 
 
 both sides, without, as it seemed, much effect. The 
 batteries could not break down the fortifications nor 
 silence the British guns. The besieged, on the other 
 hand, appeared to make no impression on the bat- 
 teries. The red-hot shot either bounded off the tops 
 or pierced the sides without doing any harm. If at 
 any time smoke was seen, the fire was speedily put out. 
 But in the course of the afternoon it could be seen 
 that something was wrong with the floating batteries. 
 They did not keep up their cannonade, and the crews 
 had evidently as much as they could do to keep them 
 from catching fire. Before midnight two were seen to 
 be in flames. The British gunners, able to take good 
 aim by the light of the fire, went on with their can- 
 nonade more furiously than ever. Six more of the 
 batteries were burnt, and before long the other two 
 were destroyed. These the British had captured, but 
 in one the powder magazine blew up, and the other was 
 found to be so injured that it had to be burnt. The 
 besiegers lost 1600 men, and would have lost more 
 had it not been for the courage and kindness of the 
 British, who did their best to take the crews of the 
 batteries that had been destroyed. 
 
 The siege, though continued in name till peace was 
 made in February 1783, was now at an end. 
 
 QQ 
 
594 STOJilES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 " THE GREATEST SAILOR SINCE THE WORLD BEGAN." 
 
 I HAVE not Space to tell the whole story of Nelson's 
 life, and so must pass over many gallant deeds, and 
 begin with the action which, I may say, first made 
 him really famous. It was the 14th of February, 1797, 
 and Nelson, who was then thirty-eight,^ was in com- 
 mand of the Captain^ a 74-gun ship in the fleet 
 commanded by Sir John Jervis. England was then at 
 war with both France and Spain, and Jervis was very 
 anxious to prevent the Spanish fleet from joining the 
 French. He met it on its way northwards — it was 
 bound for Brest — and as it happened, gave an order 
 which would have let.it slip by, but that Nelson, who 
 knew better what was to be done, chose not to obey 
 it. But it is not my business now to describe the 
 battle — it is known by the name of the Battle of Cape 
 St. Vincent — but to say what part Nelson took in it. 
 
 ^ He was born at Burnham Thorpe, in the county of Norfolk, 
 pri Michaelmas Day, 1758. 
 
" THE GREATEST SAILOR." 595 
 
 The Captain^ after engaging with other Spanish ships, 
 closed with the San Nicolas, an 84-gun. While the 
 action was going on, the Spaniard got entangled with 
 another man-of-war, the San Josef. Nelson's ship 
 had been a good deal knocked about ; its foremast 
 was down, and its wheel shot away ; it certainly, 
 therefore, could not sail to any purpose. Accordingly 
 he called for the boarders, at the same time ordering 
 the helm to be so put about that his ship should get 
 quite close to her antagonist. Our men jumped on 
 board, and Nelson was soon after them. While he was 
 receiving the Spanish officers' swords, some shots were 
 fired from the San Josef. Nelson called for the 
 boarders again, himself scrambled aboard, and hasten- 
 ing to the quarter-deck received the captain's sword. 
 There was but very little fighting ; neither ship offered 
 any serious resistance. But it was a very notable 
 thing thus to take two ships, as it were at a blow. 
 People at home could not say too much in praise of 
 the captain of a seventy-four who took an eighty-four, 
 and passed over its deck to take a 112-gun ship on 
 the other side. His fellow-officers talked of" Nelson's 
 patent bridge for boarding first-rates." " The quick 
 perception that the ships were beaten, that the Captain 
 was useless in the chase, the determination not to 
 lie idle when anything could be done — all this was 
 Nelson's own." And his own too was the bold 
 
596 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 disobedience to orders, without which there might not 
 have been any battle at all- 
 in the following year it became known in England 
 that a large expedition was being fitted out in the 
 French port of Toulon. No one knew whither it was 
 to go. A squadron under Nelson was set to watch 
 the harbour, but the French fleet got out during a 
 gale of wind. Nelson's squadron was made much 
 stronger, and he was sent to search for the enemy. 
 He had already guessed the truth. The French were 
 bound for Egypt, and were thinking, after they had 
 conquered that country, of going on to India, It is 
 a wonderful thing that he should have found out what 
 does not seem to have been so much as thought of by 
 the Government at home. For some time he searched 
 for the French fleet in various parts of the Mediter- 
 ranean, but could not see or hear of it. He even 
 went to Egypt, but it had not then arrived. The 
 search was begun on June 7, and it was not till July 
 28 that he learnt that the French had been seen on 
 June 30 near the island of Candia, sailing eastward. 
 This made him feel sure that it had gone to Egypt. 
 Thither he sailed, and on August I he found the 
 enemy, thirteen ships-of-the-line and four frigates, at 
 anchor in Aboukir Bay. The bay is to the east of 
 Alexandria, between that city and Rosetta. Nelson 
 had twelve ships-of-the-line and one frigate. One of his 
 
''THE GREATEST SAILOR" 597 
 
 ships, the Ciilloden, struck on a rock before the battle 
 began, and remained there till it was over. On the 
 whole, the French fleet had 1 198 guns and 1 1,1 10 men, 
 against 924 guns and 7478 men on our side. But our 
 ships were in a better condition, and the crews better 
 disciplined. 
 
 The French fleet was anchored in line, about three 
 miles from the shore. The English ships, none of 
 them firing a gun till quite close to the enemy, began 
 with the end of the enemy's line, and beat them, we 
 may say, one by one. The battle began about 7 p.m. 
 In about two hours' time the five ships first attacked 
 were conquered. At 10.30 p.m. the Orient^ 120-gun, 
 which bore the admiral's flag, blew up. All night the 
 fight went on. When it was over, nine French ships 
 had been taken, and /c>?/r destroyed. Four escaped. A 
 more complete victory has never been won than the 
 Battle of the Nile.i 
 
 In 1 80 1 the English Government found it necessary 
 to declare war against Denmark. I cannot fully ex- 
 plain their reasons, but I may say so much. England 
 was engaged in a desperate struggle with France ; 
 Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, while professing to 
 favour neither side, acted in such a way as likely to 
 help France and injure England very much. On 
 
 ^ The letters of Horatio Nelson make the Latin sentence 
 Honor est A nilo (" Honour is from the Nile"). 
 
598 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 April 2 Nelson, with nine ships (three ran aground in 
 attempting to follow) passed up the channel on 
 which Copenhagen is situated, and anchored opposite 
 the floating batteries belonging to the Danes. At 
 lo a.m. the battle began. Three hours passed. The 
 English ships had suffered much ; two of those that 
 had run aground had hoisted signals of distress, and 
 none of the Danish batteries had been silenced. The 
 admiral in chief command — Nelson was acting under 
 his orders — hoisted the signal, " Leave off action." 
 But the admiral had sent the captain of his ship to 
 explain that Nelson might obey the order or not, as 
 he thought best. Nelson preferred not to obey, and, 
 as usual, was quite right. " Leave off action ? " he 
 said, when the signal was reported to him. " Not I." 
 " You know. Hardy," he went on, speaking to the cap- 
 tain of his ship, " that I have a right to be blind 
 sometimes," and putting his glass into his blind eye, 
 said, " I really do not see this signal." In an hour's 
 time it was no longer doubtful which way the battle 
 would go. Most of the Danish ships and batteries 
 had ceased to fire. The Daiinebrog, the ship of the 
 Danish commander, blew up, and every one on board 
 except those who jumped into the water, perished. 
 At half-past two Nelson sent a letter to the Crown 
 Prince of Denmark in these words — " Lord Nelson has 
 orders to spare Denmark when no longer resisting ; but 
 
" THE GREATEST SAILOR." 599 
 
 if the firing is continued on the part of Denmark, Lord 
 Nelson will be obliged to set on fire all the floating 
 
 LORD NELSON. 
 
 batteries which he has taken, without having the power 
 of saving the brave Danes who have defended them." 
 In the end a truce for twenty-four hours was made ; 
 
6oo STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 after this an armistice for fourteen years, and finally a 
 peace. 
 
 Four years later England was in greater danger 
 than ever. Napoleon was bent on invading her; if he 
 could have got command of the sea, there would be 
 nothing to prevent his crossing the Channel, and put- 
 ting on her shores armies so large that it would have 
 scarcely been possible to resist them. This command 
 he never was really likely to get ; the last thing that 
 Nelson did for his country was to make it impossible. 
 Till the very end of the war — and it lasted for nearly 
 ten years after the battle which I am about to describe 
 — there never was any question about England ruling 
 the sea. France did not even attempt to dispute it. 
 
 On September 15, 1805, Nelson sailed from Ports- 
 mouth in the Victory. On the 28th he joined the 
 British fleet, which was then lying off Cadiz, and 
 took the command. The French admiral, Villeneuve, 
 was lying in that port, and was not at all anxious to 
 come out. But Napoleon threatened to take away his 
 command if he did not, and on October 19-20 he came 
 out. Nelson during this time had been busy explain- 
 ing to the officers who commanded under him his 
 plan of battle. When the time came, every man knew 
 exactly what he had to do. Generally, we may say, 
 the plan was the same as it had been at the battle of 
 the Nile — to attack first one portion of the enemy's 
 
* ' THE GKEA TES T SAIL OR. " 60 1 
 
 fleet and then another with a superior force. As at 
 the Nile, the enemy, a combination of the French and 
 Spanish fleets, was superior in the number both of ships 
 and guns — thirty-three ships with 2601 guns to twenty- 
 seven with 2294. At half-past eleven a.m. on Oct. 21 
 he made the celebrated signal : ENGLAND EXPECTS 
 THAT EVERY MAN WILL DO HIS DUTY. Half-an-hour 
 later the Royal Sovereign came into action. For some 
 time she was alone, with several French and Spanish 
 ships firing at her, but with so little skill that she 
 received very little damage. Her own fire she kept till 
 she was quite close, and then discharged it with terrible 
 effect. Almost exactly the same thing happened with 
 Nelson's ship the Victory. At least half-a-dozen 
 Spaniards and Frenchmen cannonaded her. They 
 did some damage, but not a fifth part of what she 
 did to the Biicentaure, the French ship into which she 
 discharged her broadside. Nearly four hundred men 
 were killed or wounded by it. But it was with 
 another ship, the Redoubtable^ that the Victory became 
 finally engaged. The Frenchmen were driven from 
 their guns by the superior fire of the English. But 
 they had a number of men on their top-masts, and 
 these kept up such a fire on the upper decks of the 
 Victory that it was impossible to stand there. Nelson 
 would never allow this kind of fighting to go on from 
 the ships which he commanded. He was afraid of their 
 
6o2 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 being set on fire, a thing which he had seen happen. 
 About half-past one in the afternoon a shot from the 
 top of the mizzen-mast struck him on the left shoulder, 
 and passing through the epaulette, the lungs, and the 
 spine, lodged in the muscles of the back. He fell on 
 the deck. When Hardy, who was his flag-captain, 
 endeavoured to raise him, he said, " They have done 
 for me at last. Hardy." " I hope not," answered 
 Hardy. " Yes ; my backbone is shot through." He 
 was carried below, and lingered in great pain for three 
 hours. At times he was unconscious. But he seems 
 to have known that a victory had been won. " Ten 
 ships, my lord, have struck," said Hardy to him. 
 " But none, I hope, of ours," he answered. Later on 
 he heard the total number. "God be praised!" he 
 murmured ; " bring the fleet to an anchor." The 
 dying Wolfe was also thinking up to the last of his 
 duty as General. About half-past four he died, his 
 last words having been, " Thank God ! I have done 
 my duty." Unfortunately, Admiral Collingwood, who 
 succeeded to the command of the fleet, would not 
 anchor. The consequence was that, as the weather 
 became bad, some of the prizes were lost and others 
 were recovered by their crews, who had to be set at 
 liberty, if the ships were not to sink. Four only of 
 the prizes were taken into Gibraltar. Four others, 
 however, which had escaped from the battle, were 
 
FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 603 
 
 taken by another English squadron on November 4. 
 These were all in fair condition, and one of them is 
 still afloat, being used as a training-ship. Of the 
 eleven that escaped into Cadiz, not one was ever used 
 again. Practically, the French and Spanish fleets 
 were destroyed. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 
 
 On April 22, 1809, Wellington! landed at Lisbon. 
 The object which he set before himself was to defend 
 Portugal from the French, and possibly to deliver 
 Spain from them. We shall see with what wonderful 
 skill he carried it out. 
 
 This was not the first time that England had tried 
 to strike at N|Lpoleon's power by attacking him in the 
 Peninsula, of which he had gained possession in a 
 very shameful way, and where he was greatly hated 
 by the people. In the year before, Wellington him- 
 self had defeated the French at Vimiera, and had 
 
 1 He was at this time Sir Arthur Wellesley. He was created 
 Lord Wellington about three months after this time (after 
 winning the battle of Talavera), but it will be convenient to call 
 him by the name by which he is commonly known. 
 
6o4 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 made an agreement with them by which they engaged 
 to leave Portugal. Later, in 1808, Sir John Moore had 
 marched into Spain, where, according to agreement, 
 large Spanish forces were to meet him. The promise 
 was not kept. Sir John Moore found no one ; the 
 only Spanish army that could have come to his help 
 was defeated, and having but 27,000 men to oppose 
 to 70,000 of the enemy, he could do nothing but 
 retreat. This he did, closely followed by the French. 
 At Corunna, he turned upon his pursuers and inflicted 
 a heavy defeat upon them, dying in the moment of 
 victory. This then was the work which Wellington 
 now took up. Accordingly he proceeded to make 
 sure that Lisbon should be safe from the enemy ; and 
 that his own army should have a place to which it 
 could retreat. Lisbon stands at the sea or south end 
 of a peninsula some thirty miles long, which has the 
 sea on one side and the estuary of the Tagus on the 
 other. Twenty-five miles to the north are some hills, 
 called Torres Vedras. Here Wellington made a line 
 of forts, and another, yet stronger, ten miles nearer 
 Lisbon. Here was to be the refuge of his army if 
 ever he should be compelled to fall back before 
 superior forces. 
 
 There is no need to describe his movements during 
 the next few months. They were very bold and 
 skilful, and, as for a time it seemed, very successful. 
 
FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 605 
 
 By May 19, not quite four weeks from the time 
 
 he landed, there was not a single French soldier in 
 
 Portugal. He then marched into Spain. He relied 
 
 on being helped by the Spanish troops, for he had 
 
 not yet found out how little they could be trusted. 
 
 They made him lose more than one chance of beating 
 
 the enemy. Nevertheless, he won a great victory at 
 
 Talavera (July 27-28), though he got very little help 
 
 from his allies. But his experiences in Spain taught 
 
 him that the work before him was one of great 
 
 difficulty, and that he must be prepared for the worst. 
 
 In the next year (18 10) came the time for using the 
 
 shelter provided. Napoleon, who had been greatly 
 
 vexed at the defeats suffered by his troops, sent a great 
 
 number of troops into Spain, and with them the best of 
 
 his generals — " marshals " they were called — Massena. 
 
 Wellington might have got back to his shelter without 
 
 fighting ; but he chose to stop and give the French 
 
 the chance of attacking him. He felt sure that his 
 
 army would be able to hold its own, and a victory 
 
 gained at this time would be worth much. It 
 
 would put his own men in good spirits ; it would 
 
 strengthen the Government at home, and would make 
 
 the Portuguese more willing to exert themselves.^ The 
 
 spot where he halted was Busaco, a place about 
 
 one hundred and thirty miles north of Lisbon, for 
 
 ^ He seems afterwards to have thought that he had made a 
 mistake in fighting. 
 
6o6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the French were in Portugal again. It is a ridge 
 on a Hne of hills, and about eight miles long. Two 
 French columns attacked the position. The left 
 column got up to the crest of the hill, and held 
 it for a time. Our troops were not numerous enough 
 to occupy the whole length of the ridge, and this 
 particular spot was not defended. The French were 
 soon driven down the slope. The column on the 
 right did not do even so much, for they never quite 
 reached the "top. Wellington's army lost about 1 300 
 in killed and wounded ; the French more than three 
 times as many. 
 
 The battle of Busaco was fought on September 27. 
 About a fortnight later, Wellington was behind the 
 lines of Torres Vedras. It is a curious thing that till 
 then no one, neither the Portuguese Government nor 
 his own army, knew for what these lines were meant. 
 As for Massena, he had not so much as heard of them. 
 He surveyed them, hoping to find a weak spot in 
 them, but could not. He never ventured to attack 
 them, though he remained in Portugal all the winter. 
 His army fared badly during that time ; but if 
 Wellington's plan of laying all the country waste had 
 been carried out, he would have fared much worse. 
 As it was, he lost great numbers of men from disease 
 and want, and when he made up his mind to retreat, 
 had only 50,000 left out of 70,000. 
 
A FRENCH BIVOUAC. 
 
FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 609 
 
 Massena began his retreat on March 2, and con- 
 trived it so cleverly that it was not known for some 
 time. But on the 7th Wellington was pursuing him ; 
 and less than a month later crossed the Spanish 
 frontier. Portugal was again free from the enemy. 
 By this time, it should be said, he had a much 
 stronger army, more British troops and some good 
 Portuguese regiments. These latter had been drilled 
 during the winter, and could be trusted to stand fire 
 and do good service generally. On May 3—4 he 
 fought a doubtful battle at Fuentes d'Onoro. The loss 
 on both sides was much the same, but the English took 
 possession of a strong fortress, Almeida, which would 
 be useful if Portugal were to be again invaded. This 
 was Massena's last battle ; Marmont had been sent 
 by Napoleon to take his place. A few days later 
 (May 16) a fierce battle was fought at Albuera, not 
 by Wellington but by Beresford, one of his lieuten- 
 ants, who was scarcely as able as he was brave. It 
 was a victory, but very dearly bought, for our loss 
 was 7000 to 8000 on the side of the French. Out of 
 6000 British troops, only 1500 were left unwounded. 
 Later in the year, Wellington tried to take two great 
 fortresses of which the French had gained possession, 
 Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo, but was obliged to 
 retire from both, the French bringing up against him 
 superior forces. This was the end of the third 
 
 R R 
 
6io STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 campaign. The winter before he had spent behind 
 the Hnes of Torres Vedras, all the country that he 
 could command being the Lisbon Peninsula. Now 
 he was in Spain, and so secure that a pack of hounds 
 was kept in the camp, and the country was regularly 
 hunted. 
 
 The fourth campaign (1812) was begun very early, 
 and with a great surprise. On January 12 Welling- 
 ton took the fortress of Ciudad Rodrigo by storm, 
 and not quite three months later (April 6) he got 
 possession of Badajos in the same way. Both were 
 terrible fights, Wellington losing about 1300 men 
 in the first and more than 5000 ^ in the second ; but 
 they were great blows to the enemy. 
 
 Wellington was now free to begin the second part 
 of his task. He had driven the French out of 
 Portugal ; he was now to drive them out of Spain. 
 It was a wonderful thing to do, but you must not 
 forget that he was greatly helped by what Napoleon 
 was now doing. The P'rench Emperor had been 
 preparing for some time to invade Russia. In June 
 he started. If he had sent into Spain but a half of 
 the enormous army ^ which he took with him on this 
 fatal expedition, Wellington could not possibly have 
 done what he did. 
 
 ^ Wellington burst into tears when he heard of this awful total. 
 ^ He lost 257,000 men in this campaign. 
 
FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 61 1 
 
 After various movements, which I have not space to 
 describe, but in which it may be said that the very- 
 skilful French general, Marmont, had rather the 
 advantage, the two armies met at Salamanca (July 
 22). Marmont made the mistake of leaving a great 
 gap between two parts of his army. WeUington saw 
 it in a moment and attacked, and in an hour's fight- 
 ing the French line was finally broken. Marmont, 
 who had ridden forward to do what he could to repair 
 his blunder, was severely wounded and carried off the 
 field. The same thing happened to his second in 
 command. The third made a skilful retreat, which 
 would, however, have been cut off if the Spaniards 
 had done their proper part in the day's work. But 
 they had left their post and the French escaped. As 
 it was, they lost 12,000 out of 42,000 men, Welling- 
 ton's being about half as much out of 46,000. It 
 should be noted that, for the first time, the British 
 army was superior in numbers. On August 12 
 Wellington entered Madrid, from which Joseph Bona- 
 parte, to whom the Emperor had given the empty 
 title of King of Spain, had fled a few days before. 
 But he was not strong enough to hold the place. He 
 had to leave it and to retreat. This he did, not 
 without some loss, but on the whole with success. 
 The fourth campaign of the war was now at an end. 
 Wellington thus sums it up in a letter written to a 
 
6i2 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 friend on November 30 : " Although we have not been 
 able to hold the two Castilles, our campaign has not 
 been a bad one, and we are in a position to make 
 a good one next year." 
 
 The campaign of 181 3 began with a forward move- 
 ment into Spain. It was delayed for some time 
 while Wellington made his arrangements, for it was 
 not till May 22 that he himself passed the Spanish 
 frontier. On that day, when crossing the Agueda, a 
 river which flows into the Douro, he rose in his 
 stirrups and cried, " Farewell, Portugal ! " And 
 indeed he never saw the country again, for when 
 the campaign was over, he sailed directly for 
 England. 
 
 And now the French were retreating, taking with 
 them all that they could carry of the vast plunder 
 which they gathered together in Spain. King Joseph 
 was nominally in command, with Marshal Jourdan 
 to help him. The two could not agree ; the troops, 
 too, were disappointed ; they were in retreat, and 
 retreat never suits the French soldier, who is very apt 
 to lose heart, and, unlike the Englishman, knows only 
 too soon when he is beaten. At Vittoria, a valley 
 near the mountains of Biscay, Joseph found himself 
 compelled to make a stand. 
 
 Through this valley of Vittoria there runs a river 
 named the Zamorra, and by the river the high-road 
 
FROM LISBON TO THE PYRENEES. 613 
 
 to Bayonne, along which the French were marching, 
 with a vast train of baggage. At either end there are 
 hills. It was at these two ends, as well as in the 
 middle, where there are several bridges over the river, 
 that Wellington made his attack. General Graham 
 was on the left or west, General Hill on the right, 
 Wellington in the centre. There was much fierce 
 fighting everywhere, but especially on the left. If the 
 French could have been beaten here, their whole 
 army would have been destroyed. But their com- 
 mander here held his own bravely, and though the 
 road to Bayonne was seized by the English, another, 
 namely to Bampeluna, was left open. By this the 
 French army was able to retreat. The losses in 
 killed and wounded were much the same on either 
 side — between five and six thousand ; but the French 
 lost everything but their lives and arms, one hundred 
 and fifty out of one hundred and fifty-two guns, all 
 their stores of ammunition and food, all their baggage, 
 in fact everything that belonged to themselves or that 
 they were carrying away out of Spain. 
 
 The battle of Vittoria was fought on June 21. For 
 more than a year afterwards the war went on, first in 
 Spain before San Sebastian, which was besieged on 
 July 10 and taken by storm three weeks later, and 
 among the valleys and heights of the Pyrenees ; and 
 afterwards in France itself, which Wellington entered 
 
6i4 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 on October 7. The last battle was fought at Toulouse 
 on April 10, 18 14, and fought to no purpose, because 
 Napoleon had abdicated six days before. , 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 WATERLOO. 
 
 I SAID in the last chapter that Napoleon abdicated, 
 i.e. gave up the throne of France on April 6, 18 14. 
 He was allowed to remain an Emperor, but of a very 
 small empire, namely, the little island of Elba, 
 between Italy and Corsica. This, as you may sup- 
 pose, did not satisfy him long. He left Elba on 
 February 26, 181 5, and returned to France. Here 
 most of his old soldiers joined him again, and for a 
 short time — the Hundred Days, as it is called ^ — he 
 was again Emperor of France. 
 
 The kings or their ambassadors had been quarrel- 
 ling at Vienna, where they had met to arrange the 
 affairs of Europe ; but the news of Napoleon's return 
 made them agree. All promised to help in resisting 
 
 1 The "Hundred Days" are reckoned from March 20, 18 15, 
 the day on which he entered Paris after his return from Elba, 
 to June 29, the day on which he left that city never to return. 
 
WATERLOO 615 
 
 him, and it was settled that in six weeks 700,000 men 
 should be ready to fight. As a matter of fact, nothing 
 of the kind was done. England, indeed, sent an 
 army over into Belgium, but it was not a large one, 
 for there were only 30,000 British troops in it, and 
 some of these were new recruits. Wellington was, of 
 course, put in command, but the veteran soldiers 
 whom he had led to victory in Portugal and Spain 
 were, for the most part, in America, whither they had 
 been sent for the war with the United States. The 
 total number that he had was rather above 
 100,000, and this was made up by Germans, 
 who, for the most part, were good troops ; Dutch, 
 who were not so good, but still fair ; and Belgians, 
 many of whom were very bad. The Prussians had 
 an army of about 80,000 in the field, under Marshal 
 Blucher, their most famous general. Napoleon, on 
 the other hand, had an army of 130,000, composed, 
 for the most part, of excellent soldiers, the veterans 
 whom he had commanded in so many wars. He 
 hurried from Paris, which he left on June 12, to the 
 French frontier. His plan was to attack first the 
 Prussians and then the English with his whole force. 
 Wellington was at Brussels, Blucher at Namur, that 
 is about fifty miles apart. On June 16 Napoleon 
 attacked the Prussians' left at Fleurus and defeated 
 them, but not so heavily as to make them unable to 
 
6i6 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 move. On the same day one of his marshals, Ney, 
 fell on the British troops at Quatre Bras. He did not 
 begin his attack till late in the day ; had he been 
 earlier, he might have done more, for he would cer- 
 tainly have found his adversaries weaker. As it was, 
 though some Belgian troops fled from the field, and 
 the Duke of Brunswick's legion was broken for a 
 time, their leader being killed, Ney could not drive 
 the British from their position. The total loss of 
 the Allies was about 25,000 men in killed, wounded, 
 and prisoners ; that of the French about 16,000. 
 Napoleon had won a victory, but not so great a one 
 as he wanted. He had beaten, but not routed, the 
 .Prussians, and he had not beaten the British at all. 
 
 On the 17th there was no fighting ; it was on the 
 1 8th that the great battle was fought which was to 
 put an end to Napoleon's power. Wellington's line 
 of battle was along a ridge about two miles long. 
 Behind it was the Forest of Soignies, into which he 
 could retreat if it became necessary. In front of him 
 on the right was a country house called Hougoumont, 
 and about the centre a farm named La Haye Sainte. 
 The ridge gave some shelter to his troops from the 
 French cannon. He had about 62,000 men, with 1 56 
 guns ; Napoleon had 65,000 with 246 guns ; but 
 some of Wellington's troops were, as has been said, 
 worth but very little. It was not so much that they 
 
FRENCH TROOPS IN ACTION. 
 
WATERLOO, 619 
 
 wanted courage, but they were better disposed to 
 the French than to us. 
 
 Napoleon did not begin the attack until about half- 
 an-hour before noon. There had been rain in the 
 night, and it would be convenient that the ground 
 should dry before he moved. Still, as it turned out, 
 this was a mistake. Napoleon did not know that the 
 Prussians were as near the English army as they 
 really were ; if he had, he would certainly have done 
 his best to beat the British troops before the>^ could 
 possibly come up. The first thing done was to attack 
 Hougoumont. Here fierce fighting went on during 
 the whole day, but the French never got possession 
 of the whole place. The house was always held by 
 the British garrison. But at the centre things were 
 somewhat better for the French. They took the 
 farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, and routed the Dutch- 
 Belgian brigade. Yet here, too, they suffered a con- 
 siderable loss ; thrown into disorder by the heavy fire 
 from the English lines, they were charged by the 
 Union Brigade of cavalry on one side, and by the 
 Household Brigade or Lifeguards on the other. 
 Napoleon, who had found out from a Prussian officer 
 who had been taken prisoner that Blucher was ad- 
 vancing, made more and more furious efforts to break 
 the English line. A huge body of cavalry, as many 
 as 12,000 in number, charged time after time, but 
 
620 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 could not break the squares of British infantry. " 1 
 shall beat them yet," Wellington said about this time 
 to one of his officers. Still, the battle was far from 
 being won. The fierce cannonade had so thinned a 
 part of the line where the Hanoverians were posted 
 that the Duke himself had to rally the wavering 
 troops. 
 
 It was now late. Napoleon had been vainly trying 
 for eight hours to overcome the stubborn British lines, 
 and now the Prussians had appeared on the field. 
 He made one last effort, sending the last ten bat- 
 talions of the Old Guard. It was in vain. They 
 charged in two columns, but both were broken and 
 driven back. Then Wellington ordered an advance 
 of the whole British line. The French army broke 
 up in hopeless confusion and fled. Napoleon's 
 Empire had fallen. It was a splendid victory, but 
 dearly bought. The British loss in killed and 
 wounded was 15,000, the Prussians nearly half as 
 much. This last fact shows that the Prussian army 
 had a much greater share in the battle than most 
 people think. 
 
NAVARINO, 621 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 NAVARINO. 
 
 On the first day of January, 1822, the Greeks 
 declared themselves independent. For some time 
 past they had been discontented with Turkish rule. 
 They had rebelled more than once, and at this time 
 had driven the Turks out of the Morea.^ Great 
 sympathy was felt for them throughout Europe, 
 especially by those who had read the history and 
 knew the books of ancient Greece. 
 
 Fighting went on for some years. The Greeks won 
 some victories, but they were not a match for their 
 enemies. In May 1827, Athens, which had been 
 captured by the patriots five years before, was com- 
 pelled to surrender to the Turks. Then England, 
 
 ^ The Morea^ so called from its resemblance to a mulberry 
 leaf, is what was called in ancient times the Peloponnesus 
 (Island of Pelops), being surrounded by the sea everywhere 
 except where it is joined to mainland Greece by the narrow 
 Isthmus of Corinth. Greece was conquered by the Turks in 
 1460 (seven years after the capture of Constantinople). Towards 
 the end of the next century it came intjo the hands of Venice, 
 and the Turks recovered it in 17 14. 
 
622 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 France, and Russia joined together to bring about 
 peace, more readily because the Turks carried on the 
 war in the most savage fashion. But the Turks 
 refused to come to terms, and made a great effort 
 thoroughly to subdue the rebels, as they called the 
 Greeks. For this purpose they collected a fleet of 
 seventy men-of-war of various sizes ^ at Navarino, a 
 harbour on the western side of the Morea. This fleet 
 was under the command of Ibrahim Pasha, eldest son 
 of Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt. Early in Septem- 
 ber the Russian squadron joined the fleets of England 
 and France, and the three admirals sent a message to 
 Ibrahim to this effect — " We are instructed from home 
 to prevent any further fighting between the Turks and 
 the Greeks, and we desire you to do your best to 
 carry this out." Ibrahim appeared to consent, and 
 an armistice, that is, a stay of fighting, was concluded 
 till an answer should come from the Sultan at Con- 
 stantinople. But Ibrahim did not mean to keep his 
 word. No answer was expected for twenty days, but 
 at the end of a week the Egyptian squadron stole out 
 of the harbour of Navarino, intending to carry on the 
 war elsewhere. The English admiral sailed after 
 it, and, though he had only three ships with him, 
 
 1 There were three line-of-battle ships, five 54-gun ships, 
 fifteen frigates, twenty-five corvettes, and twelve brigs, with 
 <^welve smaller vessels. 
 
NA VARINO, 625 
 
 compelled it to come back. No satisfactory answer 
 was received from the Sultan, and the three admirals 
 made up their minds to blockade the Turkish fleet in 
 the harbour of Navarino. No one supposed that 
 Ibrahim would venture to resist. 
 
 In the afternoon of October 20 the combined fleets 
 sailed into the harbour. The Turks, on seeing them, 
 began to prepare for battle, though they were not by 
 any means all of one mind. The Egyptian admiral, 
 for instance, who may have remembered, or possibly 
 seen, the battle of the Nile, declared that he would not 
 fight. Their fleet was arranged in the shape of a 
 crescent ; so large was it that the horns of this crescent 
 nearly surrounded the ships of the three Allies. These 
 latter had strict orders not to fire a gun, unless the 
 Turkish ships should first fire on them. But if this 
 were to happen, then they were to set to work in real 
 earnest, for the admirals' orders ended with a famous 
 message once sent by Nelson to the captains of his 
 fleet—" No captain can do wrong who lays his ship 
 alongside one of the enemy." 
 
 The Turks began the fighting, for they fired upon a 
 boat which had been sent with a message to a Turkish 
 fire-ship, which the Allies thought to be dangerously 
 near. An English and a French ship returned the 
 fire, and then sent parties of their crews to board the 
 fire-ship. They were just about to do this when it was 
 
626 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 blown up. Next an Egyptian frigate poured a broad- 
 side upon the Dartmouth, one of the British ships. 
 The men in the rigging hurried down to the deck, and 
 the captain called to them, " Now, my men, down to 
 the main-deck, and fire away as fast as you can." 
 
 The English admiral, still anxious to avoid, if 
 possible, a general battle, sent his pilot to the Turkish 
 commander for an explanation. But the enemy fired 
 upon the boat and killed the messenger. On this the 
 admiral poured one broadside on a Turkish and the 
 other on an Egyptian ship. Both were reduced to 
 mere wrecks ; but as they swung aside they made way 
 for a second line of the enemies' ships. These all 
 opened fire, and in a few minutes more the battle 
 became p-eneral, and the whole harbour was covered 
 with ships fiercely engaged. And while some of the 
 enemies' ships were still fighting others were burning, 
 while, from time to time, first one and then another 
 blew up with a terrible explosion. As soon as an 
 enemy's ship became disabled its crew set fire to it. 
 
 For nearly four hours the battle went on, for, as I 
 have said, it was past two o'clock when it began, and 
 the sun had set before it was finished. Of all the 
 seventy Turkish ships only one frigate and seventeen 
 smaller vessels remained fit to put to sea. All the 
 others had been knocked to pieces, sunk, or burnt. 
 The loss of the Turks was terribly great, for the ships 
 
NA VARINO. 627 
 
 were crowded with men, and the fire of the Allies was 
 so well directed that it made dreadful havoc among 
 them. It was reckoned afterwards that between five 
 and six thousand Turks and Egyptians perished at 
 Navarino. 
 
 Strange stories are told of the carelessness of the 
 Turks about their own men. When the battle was 
 over, the English admiral sent to the Turkish com- 
 mander offering him any help that he might want. 
 There had been terrible slaughter among his men. 
 Hundreds of corpses had been thrown overboard, and 
 the deck was strewed with wounded. Some Turkish 
 officers were smoking and drinking coffee. " We don't 
 want any help," said one of them to our admiral's 
 messenger. " But," said the Englishman, " shall not 
 our surgeon attend to your wounded ? " 
 
 " No," replied the Turk, " wounded men want no 
 help ; they soon die." 
 
 The English loss was about 140 in killed and 
 wounded, that of the French a little more. 
 
628 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 For the last three hundred years many British 
 sailors, and not a few belonging to other nations, 
 have been making voyages into the region of per- 
 petual ice and snow. For a long time, far, we may 
 say, into this century, these voyages were made in the 
 hope of gain — not to be got at once, indeed, but to 
 come some day. It was believed that there was a 
 short way to the East, which would make trade with 
 India and China more profitable. Now — and there 
 is still as much zeal about Arctic voyaging as ever 
 — it is knowledge that men have in view. 
 
 Sebastian Cabot was the first to have the idea of 
 a " North-west Passage, " as it was called. This was 
 about 1497. Half-a-century afterwards. Sir Hugh 
 Willoughby sailed to find it, but he and his crew 
 perished of hunger. Then a " North-eastern " passage 
 was looked for. Frobisher, Davis, Barentz are the 
 names of some of the brave seamen who went on 
 this errand. But no one had more success than 
 
''THE WHITE north:* 629 
 
 Henry Hudson, who made his way in a vessel in which 
 one would hardly like now to cross to America, with 
 a crew of ten men and a boy, as far north as latitude 
 80° 30'. This was in 1607. He made three more 
 voyages. In the fourth his crew mutinied and put 
 him out in an open boat to die of cold and hunger. 
 Hudson's Bay, which he discovered, bears his name. 
 In 1743 the English Government offered a large 
 reward to any one who should discover a north-west 
 passage, and some years afterwards another reward 
 to any one who should get to within one degree of 
 the North Pole. This second reward has never been 
 earned, for no one has been nearer to the Pole (as 
 I write the distance has been lessened by 160 miles) 
 than 400 miles, nearly six degrees ; but the first was 
 paid to Captain McClure, who discovered the passage 
 in October 1856. By that time, however, all idea that 
 it might be found useful for trade had been given 
 up. But I cannot tell the story of Arctic navigation ; 
 all that I can do is to give some account of the 
 adventures of one man, John Franklin. I choose him, 
 not because he was the most skilful and experienced 
 of the many brave seamen who have explored these 
 dreary and dangerous regions, but because he is 
 certainly the most famous. 
 
 Franklin, born at Spilsby in Lincolnshire in 1786, 
 was present as a midshipman at the battles of Copen- 
 
630 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 hagen and Trafalgar. Most of the time between 
 these two he spent in a voyage of discovery in the 
 Southern hemisphere. His first voyage to the Arctic 
 regions was made in 1818. In the year following 
 he was sent again, this time in command of a land 
 expedition. He and his party went by sea to Fort 
 York, on the east side of Hudson's Bay. There they 
 took what was called a " York boat," a flat-bottomed 
 boat about forty feet long, which drew only twelve 
 inches of water. In this they could navigate even 
 very shallow rivers. Their plan was to go from river 
 to river, and lake to lake, dragging their boat over land 
 when it was necessary. After a great deal of labour 
 and suffering, the party reached the Great Slave Lake, 
 which is about 800 miles north-west of Fort York. 
 Here they were to pass the winter, and to build a 
 house which they called Fort Enterprise. But on 
 examining their store of provisions they found that 
 they had not enough to last. One of the officers, 
 Lieut. Back, started for Fort Chipewyan, which is on 
 Athabasca Lake, to have some more sent on. He 
 travelled more than a thousand miles (there and back) 
 on snow-shoes, sometimes having no food for two 
 or three days together. The party left their winter 
 quarters in the beginning of June, in the next year, 
 and on the 15th of that month reached the shore of 
 the Arctic Sea. The journey back was a terrible one. 
 
THE WHITE NORTH: 
 
 631 
 
 For days together the travellers lived on a plant, 
 called tripe de roche, with now and then some singed 
 hide or bit of old leather. They thought themselves 
 lucky if they found the bones and putrid flesh of a 
 dead deer. On October 4, Lieut. Back went on 
 ahead to Fort Enterprise to fetch provisions, and a 
 
 *i*lllM\Vt t^^^""^'' 
 
 VESSEL TOWED THROUGH THE ICE. 
 
 few days afterwards Franklin and some of his party 
 followed him, leaving the rest, who were too weak 
 to move, under the care of Mr. Richardson, the doctor, 
 and another officer. When Franklin reached the fort 
 he found nothing. The Indians had promised to 
 make a store of provisions, but had not done it. 
 
632 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY, 
 
 Back had left a note saying that he was going on 
 to Fort Providence, and would send food from there. 
 Franklin and his companions were too weak to 
 move more than a few yards at a time. On October 
 24 he, with two others, started to look for the 
 Indians, but his snow-shoes broke, and he was com- 
 pelled to come back. While he was away some 
 reindeer came close to the house, but the men were 
 too weak to shoot them. On the 29th Richardson, 
 the doctor, arrived with a seaman : these two were 
 the only survivors of the party of 'eight left at the 
 first halting-place. Hood had been murdered by a 
 Canadian boatman, Michel by name, and Richardson 
 had shot Michel in self-defence. The man had been 
 suspected of murdering and devouring two others of 
 his companions. Only six of the company were now 
 left alive, and of these two soon died. On November 
 7, three Indians, who had been sent by Back with 
 food, arrived. The Indians took the kindest care of 
 the sick men. In the end, after spending another 
 winter in the country, they reached York Factory on 
 July 14, and four months later got back to England. 
 Franklin had been away from England for more than 
 two years. In 1825 he went again to the same 
 region, and by the same way. This time everything 
 was well managed ; proper preparations for food, 
 etc., were made, and the expedition was prosperous. 
 
" THE WHITE north:' 633 
 
 Many hundred miles of the north coast of America 
 were surveyed, and the party returned safely to 
 England. 
 
 In 1843 Franklin, now Sir John, went again in 
 command of an expedition, which this time was to go 
 by sea. He had now two ships, the Erebus and the 
 Terror^ which had lately come back from a voyage 
 to the regions of the South Pole. The ships were 
 made as fit for the work as possible, and were 
 supplied with provisions for two years. The crew 
 consisted of twenty-three officers, and a hundred and 
 eleven men. No man had had more experience of 
 Arctic voyaging than Franklin, but he was too old 
 for the work. The expedition set sail on May 19, 
 and was last seen by the captain of a whaling ship 
 in Melville Bay, which is on the west coast of 
 Greenland. But though both the ships and the crews 
 were absolutely lost, something has been learnt 
 about their fate by those who went out in search 
 of them. It seems that at first things went well 
 with them. But in the second year their ships were 
 caught in a pack of ice from which they never got 
 free. In this ice their second winter was spent. And 
 now the great discovery was made. Though the ships 
 could not be moved, two of the officers made an 
 expedition to King William Island, and saw then 
 that if they could only get their ships so far — and 
 
634 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 there was nothing but ice to hinder it — they would 
 have made the North-west Passage. FrankHn himself 
 died on June ii, 1847. ^f the survivors had made 
 up their minds at once that the ships must be left, 
 and had made their way by land to some factory 
 in Northern Canada, they might have saved their 
 lives. But they were unwilling to give up the hope 
 of success, especially as they knew that it was within 
 their reach, if only they could get clear of the ice. 
 And of this they had hopes for a time. The whole 
 pack began to move southward, but when it was 
 sixty miles from the American shore it became 
 fixed again. So it came to pass that the crew had 
 to spend the third winter in the ice. When this 
 was finished their provisions had come to an end, 
 for they had started with food for three years only. 
 In the spring of 1843 ^^e survivors, one hundred and 
 five in number, started on sledges for the Great Fish 
 River. They seemed not to have actually reached it, 
 though we know that they were not far off. Some 
 Eskimos — this is the name given to the Indians who 
 inhabit these regions — declared that they had seen 
 white men travelling in this direction. Many expedi- 
 tions were sent out from England in search for them. 
 In 1854, Dr. Rae got from the Eskimos some forks 
 and spoons that had belonged to the two ships. 
 And in 1859, Captain M'Clintock, in the steam yacht 
 
THE KHYBER PASS. 635 
 
 Fox, which had been fitted out by Lady FrankHn, 
 found papers which one of the two officers mentioned 
 before had left at Point Victory, with some words 
 added by Captain Crozier, who was in command of 
 the Terror, in 1848. It was on this paper that the 
 date of Sir John Frankhn's death was given. Captain 
 M'CHntock collected a number of relics belonging 
 to the expedition. Of the Erebus and Terror nothing 
 was ever discovered. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE KHYBER PASS. 
 
 I AM going to tell the story of the greatest disaster 
 that ever happened to a British army. 
 
 In 1838-39 the Indian Government sent an army 
 into Afghanistan. Its object was to restore a certain 
 prince, Shah Soojah by name, who had been driven 
 into exile nearly twenty years before. It hoped that 
 he would be grateful for what had been done for him, 
 and that the country which he ruled would be a valu- 
 able ally. Unfortunately, Shah Soojah was a feeble 
 creature, and his people hated him because he had 
 been put over them by foreigners. 
 
636 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 For some time, however, everything was quiet, 
 though there were some who suspected danger. But 
 in 1 84 1 some of the Afghan chiefs rebelled. They 
 had been provoked by having the payment which 
 had been made to keep them quiet reduced. What 
 they did was to occupy the passes between Afghanis- 
 tan and India. The most important of these was the 
 Khyber Pass, of which I shall have more to say here- 
 after. A brigade which was returning to India was 
 attacked on its way, and suffered no small loss, 
 though it managed at last to get clear. The officer in 
 command. General Sale, thought it best not to go 
 ♦ further than the town of Jellalabad. This place, of 
 which we shall hear again, he occupied and fortified. 
 
 Meanwhile a riot had broken out at Cabul, the 
 capital of Afghanistan, and the envoy of the Indian 
 Government was murdered. Very soon the whole 
 city was in a state of revolt. The English force, 
 which was considerable — four regiments of infantry 
 and two of cavalry, with some other troops — was 
 badly managed. Forts which might have been de- 
 fended were given up, and other opportunities of 
 attacking or resisting the enemy were lost. Else- 
 where, also, great losses were suffered. One native 
 regiment mutinied and murdered its officers ; another 
 was destroyed by the Afghans. 
 
 Then the civil officer, Macnaughten by name, to 
 
THE KHYBER PASS, 637 
 
 whom the generals had to look for orders, resolved to 
 negotiate with the enemy. The Afghan chiefs made 
 delay after delay, but at last, on December 11, they 
 agreed to a treaty. Twelve days afterwards, when 
 Macnaughten rode out from Cabul to have a confer- 
 ence with the chiefs, he was seized and murdered. 
 
 Still, even after this, the English officers went on 
 negotiating. They thought that they could neither 
 remain in Cabul nor force their way back to India, 
 and that therefore nothing could be done but accept 
 the terms which the enemy offered them. Briefly, 
 these were that they were to evacuate the country, 
 and, in consideration of this, were to be allowed to 
 return unhurt, with their arms and property. On 
 January 6, 1842, a bitterly cold day, with the 
 snow lying deep on their road, all that was left of the 
 British army, with the women and children that 
 belonged to them, left the city. There were 4500 men 
 in all, of whom 690 were Europeans, an army quite 
 strong enough to hold its own even then, if it had 
 been well commanded. 
 
 All the day was occupied in moving out, and from 
 the first the enemy broke in the cruellest way the pro- 
 mises made by their chiefs that the British should be 
 allowed to retreat in safety. The first day only six 
 miles of march were accomplished. The army and its 
 followers bivouacked in the snow, without fire, shelter, 
 
638 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 or food. Many soldiers and camp-followers, accus- 
 tomed to the warmth of an Indian climate, perished 
 of cold. During the night a part of the native troops 
 deserted. 
 
 The next day, the march — if march it can be called 
 — was resumed. The enemy still continued to plunder 
 and kill. The soldiers had lost all heart, and made no 
 resistance. They even allowed five out of their seven 
 guns to fall into the hands of the Afghans. Another 
 night even more miserable than the first followed. 
 When the morning came, only a few hundred men 
 were able to bear arms. In the course of the next 
 day the women and children with the married officers 
 were given over to the Afghan chiefs. 
 
 On the loth the advance, consisting of what was 
 left of the 44th Regiment (Europeans) and a few 
 native cavalry, with one gun, had found their way 
 through a narrow pass, in some places not more than 
 ten feet wide, which lay in their way, and waited to 
 be joined by the main body. But the main body had 
 perished. Only a few stragglers survived to tell the 
 story to those who, for the time, but only for the time, 
 had escaped. 
 
 The Afghan commander now offered to take the 
 remnant that was left safely to Jellalabad, if they 
 would lay down their arms. The offer was rejected, 
 and Brigadier Shelton, who was in command, pro- 
 
AN AFGHAN PASS, SOLDIERS HAULING A GUN. 
 
THE KHYBER PASS. 641 
 
 posed that they should make a night march to a 
 place called Jugdulluk, which was about forty miles 
 short of Jellalabad. The march was made, though 
 not till after long delay, for the force had still a 
 crowd of camp-followers w^ith it, and could not move 
 quickly. Jugdulluk was reached on the afternoon of 
 the nth, but no shelter was to be found here, and 
 those still surviving had to march on again. The 
 Afghans had put up across the road a barrier of prickly 
 brushwood. This kept back the front rank from 
 advancing ; the rear was continually attacked by the 
 savage enemy. The British soldiers made a brave 
 defence. One officer, a captain in the 44th regiment, 
 slew five Afghans before he fell. At last the brush- 
 wood barrier was broken down, and the few survivors 
 — twenty officers and forty-five European soldiers — 
 reached Gundamuk, a place half-way between Jug- 
 dulluk and Jellalabad. They took up their position 
 on a little hillock.^ At first the Afghans charged 
 them, trying to wrest their arms from them, but were 
 beaten back. The enemy then retired to a distance, 
 and fired, picking off man after man. When they 
 had weakened it, as they thought, enough, they 
 charged again — they greatly wished, you see, to have 
 some prisoners — and at last overpowered the little 
 band. One officer, who had wrapped the colours of 
 
 1 We are reminded of the Spartans at Thermopylae. 
 
 T T 
 
642 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 the 44th round his waist, was carried off, and with 
 him a few private soldiers who had been wounded. 
 
 Meanwhile the mounted officers had ridden for- 
 ward. Of these five were killed on the way, two of 
 them within four miles of Jellalabad. One survivor 
 only, a doctor, Brydon by name, reached that town. 
 
 I must now relate what happened at Jellalabad. 
 When Sale reached this town its fortifications were 
 not capable of being defended. He had thirteen days 
 to strengthen them, and his engineers made such 
 good use of the time that when on November 29 
 the Afghans attacked it, they were driven off with 
 heavy loss. About a month later came the news of 
 what had happened at Cabul, and soon afterwards 
 came a command from the General-in-Chief ordering 
 Sale to give the place up, according to the terms of 
 the agreement that had been made. Sale declared 
 that he should not heed an agreement that had been 
 made under fear of death, and that he should hold the 
 place till the Government itself should order him to 
 retire. Two or three days later came Dr. Brydon with 
 the dreadful news that he was the sole survivor of the 
 army that had marched a week before out of Cabul. 
 
 Sale himself was now shaken. A council of war 
 was held, at which he declared that they could not 
 hope to be relieved for a long time to come, and that 
 his own opinion was to make terms. The Afghans 
 
THE KHYBER PASS. 643 
 
 offered a safe retreat to India, and he advised the 
 council to accept the offer. Broadfoot, the engineer 
 officer who had strengthened the defences, declared 
 that such conduct would be neither safe nor honour- 
 able. They could hold Jellalabad, he said, as long as 
 they wanted to. Another officer, Oldfield by name 
 — I feel bound to mention these gallant men — ex- 
 claimed, " I will fight to the last drop of my blood, 
 but I will never be a hostage, and I wonder that any 
 one should regard an Afghan's word as worth any- 
 thing." But the majority was the other way. Only 
 these two voted for holding the town. But their ex- 
 ample had its effect. The others soon recovered their 
 courage, and it was resolved by all that they would 
 hold on. 
 
 For nearly three months the siege went on. Then 
 as the town was closely blockaded, supplies began to 
 fall short, and Sale determined on making a sally. 
 The Afghan general had about 5000 men, and the 
 garrison marched out in three columns, one of them 
 led by an officer who was to become famous after- 
 wards, Henry Havelock, to attack him. In the end 
 the Afghans were swept out of their position, lost all 
 their guns, and had their camp set on fire. Jellalabad 
 was now safe. A fortnight afterwards General Pol- 
 lock arrived with a relieving force, which was played 
 into its camp on the plain by the band of the 1 3th 
 
644 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Regiment playing the tune of " Oh ! but ye've been 
 lang o' coming ! " 
 
 Five months afterwards the British army again 
 entered Cabul. The great Bazaar, in which the heads 
 of Burnes and Macnaughten had been paraded, was 
 burnt, and the two places at which British regiments 
 had been slaughtered were also destroyed. This done, 
 the army returned to India. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE LION AND THE BEAR. 
 
 In the year 1854 war broke out between England 
 and France, on the one side, and Russia on the other. 
 The cause, to put it shortly, was the ambition of 
 Russia, which desired to seize part at least of the 
 dominions of the Sultan of Turkey, especially Con- 
 stantinople. I pass over the first few months. War 
 was declared on March 28, but nothing of any im- 
 portance was done for nearl}' half-a-year. Then 
 England and France resolved to invade the Crimea. 
 There Russia had a great fortress and arsenal, with a 
 harbour which could hold a great fleet. As long as 
 Sebastopol stood, Constantinople never could be 
 
THE LION AND THE BEAR. 645 
 
 safe. The great object of the Allies, as I shall here- 
 after call the two Powers, was to take this place. On 
 September 14 the landing of troops was begun ; five 
 days later the ^Allies marched in the direction of 
 Sebastopol, which was about 25 miles distant. The 
 Russian commander had taken up a position on some 
 heights on the further side of the river Alma. It was 
 a strong position, and he might have made it much 
 stronger. Near the sea the heights w^ere very steep, 
 and could be climbed only by a track in one place 
 and a rough road in another. These approaches 
 might have been destroyed, but these were not even 
 guarded. The French, who made the attack on this 
 side, suffered but little loss. And if our men had 
 waited till they (the French) had finished their work, 
 they too would have had an easier task. But the 
 French commander asked Lord Raglan, who was the 
 English general, to attack at once, and this was done. 
 Our troops had to bear a heavy cannonade and 
 musketry fire before they could come to close quarters 
 with the enemy. There were mistakes in the way in 
 which they were led, for indeed few officers had any 
 experience, save some of the older men, who had 
 served in the Peninsula forty years before. The 
 Light Division had the hardest of the fighting to do, 
 but it did it well. The first to make their way into 
 the Russian breastwork were the men of the 23rd 
 
646 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 (Welsh Fusiliers). When, afterwards, they were 
 forced partly down the slope by the superior force of 
 t:he Russians, the Guards helped them bravely. Then 
 the Russians gave wa}^ and fled in confusion towards 
 Sebastopol, the English artillery doing them much 
 harm as they went. We lost 2000 men in killed and 
 wounded, the Russians at least three times as many ; 
 the French suffered but little. 
 
 It has been said by some writers that the Allies 
 might have taken Sebastopol if they had gone on at 
 once. Other writers have doubted ; and indeed we 
 can never be certain as to what might or might not 
 have been. And it must be remembered that, though 
 the Allies lost man}^ men during the siege that 
 followed, the Russians lost man}' more. They had 
 to march all the men that were wanted to defend 
 Sebastopol over great distances. Those that perished 
 on the way were more than those who were killed in 
 the siege. 
 
 The Allies now set about besieging the town, the 
 English taking the east side, the French the south, 
 and soon found out that they had a very hard task to 
 perform. While the}' were bus}' making trenches and 
 cannonading, the Russians had quartered a large 
 army on the field, and with this on October 25, they 
 attacked the English lines at Balaklava. They drove 
 out the Turks from some redoubts and then advanced 
 
THE LION AND THE BEAR. 649 
 
 against the one English regiment which, with the 
 Turks, made up the garrison of the place. This 
 regiment was the 93rd Highlanders, commanded by 
 Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord Clyde. The 
 Highlanders stood firm, not in square, as usual when 
 cavalry charge infantry, but in the "thin red line" 
 which has become so famous. By this time, the 
 English Heavy Cavalry were coming up to support 
 the Highlanders. On their way, they came across a 
 large body of Russian cavalry, charged them, and 
 drove them down the other slope of the hill, on which 
 they stood in confusion. The Light Brigade of 
 cavalry was at hand, and might have charged the 
 flying enemy and completed their destruction. They 
 did not do so, but unhappily they did something else 
 which made the day, that had been so far a day 
 of success, end in disaster. Lord Raglan sent an order 
 to the officer in command of the brigade to charge 
 and so prevent the Russians carrying away the guns 
 from the redoubts which they had taken. The charge 
 was made, though it is doubtful whether it was what 
 had been ordered, and quite certain that if Lord Rag- 
 lan had seen what was to be done, he would not have 
 thought of it. In front, about half-a-mile off, were 
 the batteries which the brigade was to charge ; on 
 either side there were cannon and masses of infantry. 
 The two English regiments, six hundred men in all, 
 
650 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 rode straight on, through a storm of shot and shell ; 
 they actually reached the batteries and drove the 
 gunners away. Then they rode back, but they had 
 lost nearly half their men and more than four-fifths of 
 their horses. One of the regiments, when it was next 
 mustered, had but ten mounted troopers. " It's splen- 
 did, but it is not war," said a French general who saw 
 the charge. He was quite right ; but the same might 
 have been said of Arnold von Winkelreid when he 
 broke the line of the Austrian infantry by gathering 
 the spears into his own breast. 
 
 A week afterwards, the Russians made another and 
 more dangerous attack upon the Allies. The Russian 
 commander had now 100,000 men at his disposal, and 
 if he had used them with more skill, he might well 
 have put an end to the siege. Before dawn on 
 November 5, 19,000 men came out of Sebastopol 
 and advanced against the English position, on what 
 was called Mount Inkerman. Later in the day, 
 another Russian force, not less numerous, came up 
 from the other side. How the English troops resisted, 
 and in the end drove back these assailants, far more 
 numerous than themselves, it is impossible to say. 
 The battle has been called a soldiers' battle. This 
 means that the British troops fought where they 
 stood, often in quite small parties ; their courage, 
 their strength, their national habit of not knowing 
 
THE LION AND THE BEAR. 651 
 
 when they were beaten, all helped them. "They held 
 their ground with an audacious obstinacy, which it 
 would be difficult to parallel in European warfare." 
 Towards the afternoon, when their strength was 
 becoming exhausted, the French came to their help. 
 Without this, they could hardly have stood as firm as 
 they did. Their loss was very heavy, 2300 men in 
 killed and wounded, about a third of their whole force. 
 But the Russian loss was many times greater, more 
 than 1 2,000 men ; that of the French was about 900. 
 If the Russians had used all the troops that were 
 available, if, for instance, the French lines had been 
 attacked at the same time with the English, the day 
 of Inkerman would hardly have ended as it did, in 
 one of the greatest victories in our history. 
 
 After this defeat, the Russians did not again attempt 
 to attack the Allies in the field, but the siege was verj- 
 far from an end. The English troops — not to speak 
 of the French who, for a time at least, suffered less — 
 went through a terrible winter from cold, hunger, and 
 disease. One cause of this was a great storm which 
 happened nine days after the battle of Inkerman. 
 The tents in the camp were blown down ; many ships, 
 even in harbour, were wrecked ; the rain and snow, 
 which continued for many days, made the roads and 
 all the country deep in mud. Another cause was the 
 want of proper stores for the men ; some necessary 
 
652 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 things, especially fuel, were wanting ; others had been 
 badly chosen by the board of officers which had to 
 look after this business.^ But the chief reason of all 
 the trouble was the want of a Transport Service as it 
 is called ; that is, a regular establishment of wagons, 
 horses, and drivers to carry the food and other 
 necessary things from the stores, which were by the 
 sea, up to the camp. The few horses that there were 
 died for want of forage, and the stores had to be 
 carried by the soldiers themselves. The soldiers, 
 after being for many hours in the trenches,^ instead 
 of finding their food ready for them, had to go for 
 miles through mud and rain to fetch it, and often 
 found that it could not be got. And it must not be 
 forgotten that, for some parts of the siege, the English 
 army had more than its fair share of the work to do. 
 The result of all this was such a state of misery as it 
 is quite impossible to describe. At one time (the 
 beginning of January, when things were, perhaps, at 
 
 ^ Green, or unroasted coffee, for instance, was given out to the 
 men. Commonly, it is better to give it out green, because 
 when it has been roasted for some time it begins to lose its 
 flavour. But when the men were situated as they were before 
 Sebastopol, green coffee was of no use, for it could not be 
 roasted. 
 
 2 The " trenches " are the zigzag lines by which a besieged 
 city is approached. Zigzag they must be, because, if they 
 were straight, they could be swept by cannon fired from 
 the walls. 
 
THE LION AND THE BEAR. 653 
 
 their worst) there were more than twice as many sick 
 as were fit for duty. When I say "fit for duty," I 
 mean who said they were fit for duty, for the brave 
 soldiers held out to the very last of their strength 
 before they would own that the}' were sick. One 
 regiment was so reduced that there were but eight 
 men (not counting officers) on parade. If the 
 Russians had only known how weak we were, they 
 might have put an end to the siege. 
 
 Many strange stories are told of this time, some of 
 them sad, some amusing. One thing that very soon 
 came to pass was that the soldiers took very little 
 trouble to keep themselves smart, but put on whatever 
 they could find that would keep them comfortable and 
 warm.^ An English major who was dressed in this 
 sort of way was mistaken by some French officers 
 who passed by his hut for the keeper of a canteen.- 
 "Some absinthe," they said, "and make haste about 
 it." The major, who had lived in France, served it 
 much to their liking. "How much to pay!" "No- 
 thing, gentlemen." "Nothing! People don't give 
 
 1 This was no easy matter. Punch had a picture at the 
 time of two ragged, shivering soldiers. One of them says to 
 the other: "Jim, they say they'll give us a medal!" "In- 
 deed ! " answered the other. " Maybe they'll give us a coat 
 to put it on ! " 
 
 2 A place where liquors and other things are sold to the 
 soldiers. 
 
654 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 absinthe away." "Gentlemen," said the major, "I am 
 in command of the — regiment of the hne, and am 
 delighted to have had the chance of serving my 
 French comrades." The Frenchmen apologized. A 
 few days afterwards, the rest of the officers thought 
 that they too ought to express their regret for the 
 mistake ; so they paid a visit to the major, and when 
 they went away he had no absinthe left. 
 
 Fighting went on daily, and many curious things 
 happened. Once, Captain, now Lord, Wolseley missed 
 his way in a snow-storm, though he knew the ground 
 perfectly well. Finding a great boulder, he was going 
 to sit down upon it for a short rest, when he saw three 
 Russians sheltering themselves on the other side. He 
 was unarmed and ran away as fast as he could, and 
 the Russians were too cold to use their rifles. Sir 
 Evelyn Wood, who then belonged to the Naval 
 Brigade,^ tells a story of how he was talking to a 
 sergeant in charge of a battery, when what they thought 
 was a shot lodged in the parapet close by. It was 
 not a shot, but a shell ; a few moments later it burst ; 
 a fragment cut Mr. Wood's cap off his head, but no 
 harm was done. Once when Lord Raglan was going 
 round the batteries, he sat down close to a 6o-pounder 
 gun which was being fired, and at which several 
 
 1 A detachment of men from the Fleet, who served in the 
 sies^e. 
 
THE LION AND THE BEAR. 655 
 
 Russian cannon were being aimed. A shot went 
 through the parapet six inches above Lord Raglan's 
 head, covering him with stones and earth. He stood 
 up to shake himself, saying as coolly as usual, " Quite 
 close enough." 
 
 Early in April a great bombardment was begun, 
 and was carried on for ten days. More than 100,000 
 shell and shot were fired into the town, and the 
 defences were broken down in more than one place. 
 If an assault had been made — and the Russians, as 
 we now know, fully expected that it would be made — 
 Sebastopol would in all probability have been taken. 
 The Russians had suffered very greatly in the 
 bombardment, losing more than 6000 men. The 
 Allies did not suffer nearly so much. If a Russian 
 shot missed the batteries it did no further harm, but 
 shot fired against the town commonly hit something. 
 
 By this time, matters had greatly improved in the 
 English camp. There was a railway between it and 
 the sea, and stores were brought up in abundance. 
 By the time that the siege came to an end, everything 
 in our army was in good order ; far better, in fact, 
 than among the French. 
 
 On June 7 there was another heavy bombardment. 
 When it was finished, an assault was made. The 
 French took a fortification named the Mamelon. This 
 had been made by Todleben in front of the walls, and 
 
656 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 had given the AlHes a great deal of trouble. On the 
 1 8th of the same month — a day chosen because it was 
 the anniversary of Waterloo — the French attacked 
 the Malakoff, and the English the Redan, both of 
 them important parts of the fortifications of Sebasto- 
 pol. Both attacks failed, it is generally thought, 
 because the French general resolved to attack too 
 soon ; that is, before the bombardment had sufficiently 
 broken down the defences. 
 
 On June 28 Lord Raglan died. 
 
 On September 8 the French, who had now brought 
 their siege works close up to the Russian fortifications, 
 stormed the Malakoff and took it. The same day 
 the English attacked the Redan, but were beaten 
 back. But the siege was now over. On the following 
 night the Russians left Sebastopol, after destroying all 
 that they could. They had lost at least 200,000 men. 
 Great as had been the sufferings of the Allies, those of 
 the besieged were far greater. 
 
 Peace was proclaimed on April 28, 1856. 
 
CAlVNrORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI, 657 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 CAWNPORE, LUCKNOW, DELHI. 
 
 In the early summer of 1857 a terrible mutiny 
 broke out among the native troops of the Indian 
 army. There were many causes at work to bring 
 this about. I cannot describe them here ; perhaps 
 no one knows all about them. But I will mention 
 one, because it is easily described, and also because it 
 actually produced the first outbreak. Grease had been 
 used in making the cartridges served out to the native 
 troops. The ends of the cartridges used in those days 
 had to be bitten or torn off. But to put a thing on 
 which there was fat into the mouth, or even to touch 
 it, was shocking to many of the Hindoos. And when 
 the report was spread that the British Government 
 had ordered this fat to be used for the purpose of 
 making the Hindoos do what their religion forbade, 
 it made the soldiers furious. At Meerut, a town 40 
 miles N.E. of Delhi, some troopers of a native cavalry 
 regiment were sentenced to imprisonment for refusing 
 to touch the cartridges served out to them. This was 
 
 u u 
 
658 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 on May 10. The next day all the native regiments 
 (which I shall henceforth call ^'^Z^?;'^) mutinied, murder- 
 ing some of their officers. They broke open the prison 
 and released their comrades, plundered everything 
 they could lay their hands on, and then made their 
 way to Delhi, the ancient capital, as it may be called, 
 of India. 
 
 The mutiny which began in this way lasted for 
 nearly two years. I cannot tell the whole story of 
 it, and so have chosen three of the most famous names 
 in it. 
 
 CAWNPORE. 
 
 Cawnpore was an important place on the road from 
 Calcutta to Delhi. At this time it was garrisoned by 
 three Sepoy regiments. There were no European 
 troops. The officer in command was Sir Hugh 
 Wheeler, who had had Sepoys under him all his life, 
 and found it hard to believe that they were not loyal. 
 Still he could not help seeing that all was not right, 
 and he began to take precautions. Unfortunately he 
 did not act at all wisely. He might have made the 
 magazine into a strong fortress. What he did was to 
 fortify in a way some barracks. These were so placed, 
 however, that had the defences been much stronger 
 than they were they could hardly have been held. A 
 supply of provisions was laid in, but this too was very 
 
CAU'NPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 
 
 659 
 
 badly done. But this, we shall see, did not matter in 
 the end. On June 4 the Sepoy regiments mutinied. 
 They intended to march away and join their comrades 
 
 
 C AWN PORE. 
 
 at Delhi, but a native prince, Nana Sahib by name, 
 who believed that the British Government had treated 
 him badly, and was eager for revenge, persuaded them 
 to attack the Europeans at Cawnpore. 
 
66o STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 The barracks had been hastily surrounded by a mud 
 wall. Behind this there were gathered together about 
 one thousand people. Not quite half were men, the 
 soldiers among them being chiefly the officers of the 
 regiments that had mutinied. For three weeks they 
 held out. They might at any .time have cut their way 
 through the enemy, but they could not leave behind 
 them the women and children. At the last nothing was 
 left but to treat with the enemy^ Nana Sahib promised 
 to send them safely away. They were to march out 
 of the fort, and to embark in boats which had been 
 provided for them. On their way to the river they 
 were attacked by the treacherous enemy. Some 
 reached the boats, and perished afterwards ; others 
 were afterwards murdered. Nearly a quarter of the 
 whole number, happier than their companions, had 
 died of disease, or been killed during the siege. 
 
 LUCK NOW. 
 
 Here matters were better managed than at Cawn- 
 pore, thanks to the wisdom of the officer in command, 
 Sir Henry Lawrence. The building, which had been 
 formerly occupied by the Resident,^ was strongly 
 
 ^ Lucknow had been the capital of the native State of Oudh. 
 Oudh had been governed by a Rajah, with the assistance of 
 a British officer, who was called the " Resident." This officer 
 had a strong force of soldiers to protect him. 
 
CAWNPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 66 1 
 
 fortified, and a good store of provisions was laid in. 
 The place was invested by the mutineers on July i. 
 The next day Sir Henry Lawrence was mortally 
 wounded by a shell which entered the room where he 
 was sitting. He died on the 4th. On the 30th of the 
 same month General Havelock, who had reached 
 Cawnpore too late to rescue the inmates of the fort, 
 and was on his way to relieve Lucknow, reached a 
 spot about fifty miles from that town. But here he 
 had to halt. His little army was not strong enough 
 to go forward. He had started from Cawnpore with 
 less than 1500 men, of whom not quite 1200 were 
 Europeans. He had had to fight two battles, and 
 had lost between two and three hundred of his feu- 
 European soldiers. He had to count on losing more 
 before he could reach Lucknow. He could hardly have 
 more than 600 fit for service when he arrived. He 
 had nearly exhau-sted his ammunition, and he had no 
 means of carrying the sick and wounded. He fell 
 back. A few days afterwards he advanced, and again 
 retired. To have gone on would have been to lose his 
 army, and to take away all hope of the safety of Luck- 
 now. On September 19 he started for the third 
 time. He had now 3179 men, of whom all but 400 
 were Europeans. 
 
 Meanwhile the Lucknow garrison had been holding 
 out bravely. The Residency, which, as I have said, 
 
662 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 they occupied, was not a fortress. It was not strong, 
 and it was too near the buildings of the city. Four 
 times the enemy assaulted it, and were driven back. 
 The garrison, too, had to fight under the ground as 
 well as above the ground, for tiie enemy never ceased 
 to make mines, which the garrison had to destroy with 
 counter mines. Sometimes the two would meet, and 
 then there would be a fierce struggle almost in the dark. 
 But so watchful and so skilful were the engineers in 
 the garrison that the enemy never but once succeeded 
 in making a mine that did any serious damage. But 
 there was dreadful loss of life. In eighty-seven days, 
 the time between July i, when the Residency was first 
 besieged, and September 25, when it was relieved for 
 the first time, there died, killed or mortall)' wounded, 
 or struck down by disease, 350 Europeans and 133 
 native soldiers. 
 
 On September 23 Havelock, who had now Sir 
 James Outram with him,i came in sight of Lucknow. 
 After two days' fighting, which I cannot attempt to 
 describe, he and his brave men made their way into 
 the Residency. It was not done without heavy loss, 
 for the enemy, who were trained soldiers, trained, too, 
 by British officers, and well knew that they had com- 
 
 1 Outram might have taken over the command from Havelock, 
 but very generously offered to serve under him till Lucknow had 
 been relieved. 
 
C AWN PORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 663 
 
 mitted crimes which could not be pardoned, fought 
 fiercely. Altogether 535 British and native soldiers 
 were either killed or wounded in these two days^ 
 about one in six, that is, of the whole army which had 
 marched out of Cawnpore. As for the joy of the 
 people in Lucknow, of the men, who had begun to 
 doubt whether they could defend the place much 
 longer, of the women, who had suffered so much them- 
 selves, and so much more in seeing their children 
 fade away before their eyes, there is no telling it. 
 
 But all was not over yet. To put the matter shortly, 
 another siege began. Outram and Havelock were not 
 strong enough to leave the place, taking with them all 
 the sick and wounded, with the women and children. 
 Of these there were altogether about a thousand. 
 This second siege lasted for seven weeks. On 
 November 16 Sir Colin Campbell, afterwards Lord 
 Clyde, reached Lucknow ; the garrison sallied forth at 
 the same time, and attacked the enemy. This time 
 the place was really relieved. Eight days later 
 Havelock died. Sir Colin Campbell and Outram 
 marched away, and for a time Lucknow was left to 
 the enemy. 
 
 DELHI. 
 
 In the midst of the fighting that took place during 
 the first relief of Lucknow, news was brought that 
 
664 S7VRIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 Delhi had been taken. The troops were partially 
 formed into a square and the despatch read to them. 
 They heard it with a loud cheer, and indeed it was 
 very good news indeed. It was the first great thing 
 that had been done towards bringing this dreadful war 
 to an end. 
 
 I have said that the Sepoy regiments that mutinied 
 at Meerut fled at once to Delhi. This city had been 
 the seat of a powerful kingdom, and there was still a 
 King of Delhi, though he was a king in name only, 
 the real government of the country being in our hands. 
 But the leaders of the rebellion hoped that the ancient 
 name would be a source of strength to them. 
 
 The Sepoys did dreadful deeds in Delhi. I would not 
 describe them if I could. But I can tell }^ou of some brave 
 acts which our countrjanen did, faithful to their duty to 
 the last. A telegraph clerk was killed at his desk, having 
 just wired to Sir John Lawrence, who was Governor of 
 the Punjaub: "The Sepoys have come in from Meerut, 
 and are burning everything." Sir John Lawrence 
 received the message in a few hours' time, and at once 
 began preparing to send help. No one did more to 
 save the British power in India, and it was a great 
 thing that he was warned so soon. Then there was a 
 young officer, Willoughby by name, who was in charge 
 of the magazine. He did good service, and in the 
 very bravest way. He had eight Europeans with him. 
 
CAWNPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI, 665 
 
 For a time they defended the magazine, hoping that 
 help would come. When Lieutenant Willoughby saw 
 that this would not be, he determined to blow up the 
 magazine and all the stores in it. A train of powder 
 had been laid, and one of the eight — his name was 
 Scully — offered to fire it when Willoughby gave the 
 signal. Scully perished in the explosion, but a thou- 
 sand mutineers perished with him, and all the am- 
 munition in the magazine was destroyed. Four of 
 the eight made their way out in safety. Willoughby 
 himself was murdered on his way to Meerut. 
 
 The first thing that the British Government did 
 was to prepare to take Delhi out of the hands of 
 the mutineers and the king, who indeed was nothing 
 more than a puppet in their hands. All the troops 
 that were available were hastily got together, and 
 on June 8 the siege of Delhi was begun. To take 
 the city seemed almost hopeless. One side of the 
 city was protected by the river. On the others were 
 fortifications not less than seven miles round, very 
 strong, and with more than a hundred guns mounted 
 upon them. The besieging army consisted of but a 
 {^\N thousand men. It could not even attempt to 
 invest the city. All that was possible was to attack 
 that part where there seemed most hope of success. 
 Behind the walls of the city there were many thou- 
 sands of rebels, trained soldiers all of them. And the 
 
666 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 besiegers, for the present at least, had no heavy guns 
 with which to make a breach in the walls. For about 
 three months, indeed, there was no siege. A small 
 British army held its own against a far more numerous 
 enemy. There was fighting almost, one might say, 
 without ceasing. In these two months thirty actions 
 took place, one, that is, for every two days. And 
 some of these actions lasted for more than a day. We 
 find an officer writing, after a grand attack by the 
 enemy had been made and beaten off : " Most of us 
 had been fighting for more than thirty hours." On 
 June 23 the enemy made a tremendous attack on our 
 camp. It was the hundredth anniversary of the battle 
 of Plassey, and there was a very common belief that 
 it was to be the last of the I^ritish rule. Fired by the 
 hope of bringing this to pass the Sepoys fiercel}' 
 assailed our camp. They were beaten back with 
 heavy loss, and from that time were far less confident 
 than before. 
 
 At last, early in September, the heavy guns, that 
 were wanted to mike a breach in the walls, came 
 up. The mutineers had tried to take them as they 
 approached, but were driven off with heavy loss. On 
 the 4th of the month they reached the British camp, 
 each drawn by twenty couple of oxen. The engineers 
 busied themselves in building the batteries, and the 
 guns were mounted as they were finished, and opened 
 
CAJVNPORE, LUC KNOW, DELHI. 667 
 
 fire on the city. On the nth the guns were all at 
 work, and two days afterwards they had made such 
 breaches in the walls — they were of stone, which does 
 not resist nearly so well as earth — that it seemed as if 
 the assault could be made. But it was necessary first 
 to find out the exact state of the case. Four officers 
 volunteered to examine the breaches. This they did, 
 and narrowly escaped with their lives. The report 
 \\'hich the}' brought back was such that an assault was 
 ordered for the next day at dawn. 
 
 The attacking force was in five columns. The first 
 and second of these were to force their way into the 
 city through breaches that had been made in the 
 walls ; the third was to enter by the Cashmere Gate ; ^ 
 the fourth was to go against the Cabul Gate ; the 
 fifth was to follow the first. In all the five columns 
 there were not more than 6000 men, of whom about 
 one-fifth were British soldiers ; inside the walls there 
 were not less than 30,000 rebels. 
 
 It had been arranged that the assault should be 
 made at dawn, but it was bright daylight before the 
 columns reached the walls. Both the breaches were 
 carried, but not without heavy loss. At the second 
 twenty-nine out of the thirty-nine men who carried 
 the scaling ladders in part of the column were struck 
 
 ^ The gates of Delhi were called by the names of the provinces 
 to which they led. 
 
668 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 down. But fresh men filled their places ; the ladders 
 were set against the walls ; men mounted, cut down 
 the gunners at their guns, and drove all before them. 
 Perhaps the hardest work of all was done at the 
 Cashmere Gate. A party of Sappers and Miners 
 made their way to the Gate, carrying with them the 
 powder-bags with which it was to be blown up. 
 The drawbridge had been partly destroyed, but they 
 crossed by the beams that were left, and placed the 
 powder against the gate. The wicket was open, and 
 through this the enemy within went on firing at our 
 men. A sergeant was killed while laying the train 
 of powder ; the officer who was to light the fuse was 
 mortally wounded just as he was about to do it ; he 
 handed the match to a sergeant, and the sergeant was 
 shot down, but not till he had succeeded. A tremen- 
 dous explosion followed ; the Gate was blown in, and 
 the bugle sounded thrice as a signal for the column to 
 enter. 
 
 The fourth column only failed in its task. At one 
 time it seemed as if the rebels might make a counter 
 attack in this direction, which would have been dan- 
 gerous to the whole British army, but a charge of the 
 Cavalry Brigade drove them back. 
 
 It must not be supposed that Delhi was taken when 
 the attacking columns made their way into it over the 
 breaches or through the gates. The fight was carried 
 
QUEEN AND EMPRESS. 669 
 
 on fiercely and obstinately in the streets. One of the 
 best and bravest of the English officers, Brigadier 
 Nicholson, whom men called " The Lion of the Pun- 
 jaub," was killed within the city. So were many 
 others. Almost every street was defended by the 
 rebels. It was not till the afternoon of September 20, 
 more than six days after the morning of the first attack, 
 that the Palace, the last stronghold of the rebels in 
 Delhi, was taken. 
 
 The British army, which never numbered more than 
 10,000 men, lost nearly 4000 in killed and wounded 
 during the siege. How many died of disease, sooner 
 or later, it would not be possible to say. But the 
 taking of Delhi was well worth all that it cost. 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 
 
 There were many wars during the forty odd years 
 which followed the Indian Mutiny. A country that 
 has possessions in every quarter of the world cannot 
 expect to be often completely at peace. It was so 
 
670 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 with Rome/ and it is likely to be so with England. 
 But it was not till 1899 that there was a war so serious 
 as to call forth the whole strength of the Empire. In 
 the October of that year the two republics in South 
 Africa, known as the Transvaal and the Orange Free 
 State, declared war on this country. I cannot go into 
 the causes which brought about this event. In the 
 republics there was a fear that England wished to 
 interfere with their independence. We, on the other 
 hand, had good reason for thinking that there was a 
 scheme for driving us entirely out of South Africa 
 and establishing there a Dutch empire. (It must be 
 remembered that the ruling race in the republics was 
 Dutch, and that the majority of the inhabitants of 
 Cape Colony were of this race.) In October 1899, 
 then, the Boer army — the inhabitants of the two 
 republics are known as Boers — invaded Natal. 
 
 I cannot tell the story of what happened during the 
 two years and a half^' that followed. It must be 
 enough to say something about what was the most 
 important event of the war, the siege of Ladysmith. 
 
 Ladysmith is a town in the Colony of Natal, about 
 
 ^ There was a temple at Rome dedicated to the God Janus, 
 the gates of whieli were always open as long as there was war 
 going on in any part of the Empire. We are told that they were 
 shut three times only in the course of eight hundred years. 
 
 2 War was declared on October 11, 1899, and peace was 
 concluded on May 31, 1902. 
 
THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 671 
 
 twenty miles from the border of what was the Orange 
 Free State. A worse place to defend could hardly be 
 found, for it was commanded by hills on every side. 
 But there were reasons for holding it ; a vast quantity 
 of stores had been accumulated there, and it guarded 
 the Colony of Natal. The siege began after an 
 unfortunate battle fought near the town, in which 
 many British troops were taken prisoner, and the rest 
 driven back within the fortifications. On November 
 2, 1899, the town was invested. General White, who 
 was in command, had some 12,000 men of all arms. 
 He had a very long line to defend, and the Boers were 
 in possession of an outer circle of hills. Their guns, 
 too, had a greater range than ours. The women and 
 children were lodged in a camp which was, of course, 
 not fired upon by the enemy; another camp was 
 occupied by part of the British force ; the rest of it 
 garrisoned the town itself. 
 
 A week after the investment the Boers made their 
 first attack. It was not very vigorously pushed, and 
 two regiments (the Manchester and 1st battalion 60th 
 Rifles) repulsed it with but little loss. Then for some 
 weeks they sat still, waiting till want of food — there 
 were thousands of women and children to be fed, 
 besides the soldiers — and disease should compel sur- 
 render. Of course there was fighting from time to 
 time. On December 5, for instance, a sortie was 
 
672 S^'ORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 made by which two of the Boer guns which had been 
 particularly troublesome were destroyed, and a Maxim 
 captured. This exploit was the work of Irregulars ; 
 on the nth the Regulars had their turn and captured 
 a howitzer. All this time, and for weeks afterwards, 
 the Boer fire went on ; sometimes as many as two or 
 three hundred shells were thrown into the town in the 
 course of a single day. Not so much harm was done 
 as might have been expected ; but sometimes the 
 explosion was terribly fatal. On December 17 six 
 Natal Carabineers were killed and three wounded 
 in this way; on the 22nd five of the Devons were 
 killed and twelve wounded in the same way. • Then 
 on January 6, 1 900, came the great Boer assault. 
 There is a range of hills to the south of the town, 
 one end of which was known as Caesar's Camp, the 
 other as Waggon Hill. The attack was a complete 
 surpri.se. The storming party reached the ridge 
 without opposition. But then the fighting began in 
 earnest. One regiment (the Manchester) held Caesar's 
 Camp ; these were reinforced by three companies of 
 the Gordon Highlanders and four companies of the 
 Rifle Brigade. A battery of Field Artillery (the 53rd) 
 also came to their help. It had to fire over their 
 heads into the enemy ; but this it did without making 
 a mistake, a feat all the more wonderful because the 
 gunners had no protection. But their courage never 
 
THE WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA. 673 
 
 failed, nor their skill. One man — Barber by name — 
 whose leg and arm had been stricken off, called to his 
 men to roll his body off the trail and go on working 
 the gun. On Waggon Hill the fight was even fiercer. 
 There the garrison consisted of Imperial Light Horse 
 and Sappers. They held their own most gallantly, 
 though they had no entrenchment or defence of any 
 kind. Five companies of the 60th Rifles and a few 
 Gordons came to their help, and a little later, two 
 more troops of Light Horse and another four com- 
 panies of Rifles. The fighting lasted for hours ; it was 
 often hand to hand ; men slew and were slain in turn 
 as in the great battles of Homer. Further on in the 
 day the Devons came to the help of the garrison and 
 swept the Boers before them. The gallant men at 
 the other end of the ridge saw what had happened 
 and were cheered to new effort. At both points the 
 Boer attack was repulsed. 
 
 For six weeks more the siege lasted. It was a 
 weary time, for the hospitals were crowded, and food 
 grew scarcer and scarcer, and there was the sickness 
 of hope deferred, for da}^ after day could be heard 
 the thunder of the guns of the relieving army. I wish 
 that I had space to tell the story of that army's 
 advance. There was a time of darkness, almost of 
 despair ; mistakes were made, attacks made that 
 
 should never have been attempted, and relinquished 
 
 X x 
 
674 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 when success was almost coming in sight. One thing 
 never failed, the steadfast, enduring courage of the 
 British soldier. At last the difficult task was accom- 
 plished ; Lord Dandonald, with two squadrons of 
 cavalry, made his way into the town. On March 3, 
 just 1 10 days after the complete investment, Sir 
 Red vers Buller, who was in command of the relieving 
 army, made a state entry. More than a thousand men 
 in the garrison had died of wounds or disease. If 
 Ladysmith had fallen South Africa might well have 
 been lost. There would certain 1}^ have been an 
 insurrection of the Dutch in Cape Colony, and it is 
 not unlikely that some of our enemies in Europe 
 might have gathered courage enough to declare 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VII. 
 
 In 1897 Queen Victoria kept her Diamond Jubilee. 
 
 She had reigned more than sixty years.^ The Empire 
 
 ^ Queen Victoria came to the throne, on the death of her 
 uncle, WiUiam IV., June 29, 1837. George III. succeeded his 
 grandfather, George II., October 25, 1760, and died January 29, 
 1820, the length of his reign being therefore 59 years. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VII. 675 
 
 had prospered in her time, greatly extending its borders 
 and growing in wealth and power. Not a little of this 
 prosperity was due to the Queen herself. Never had 
 there been a Sovereign more illustrious, more devoted 
 to duty ; and, in later years at least, she had come to 
 know about some things more than any of her ministers. 
 But she could not do what she did and be what she 
 was but at a heavy cost. Not to speak of her private 
 sorrows, she felt the troubles of her people — scarcity, 
 pestilence, war. And then, when she was far on in 
 years, and her health was beginning to fail, came the 
 great trouble of the South African war. A large army 
 of more than 200,000 men had been sent from this 
 country to the seat of war, and ^^^ry day brought 
 news of deaths in battles or by disease .of British 
 soldiers and of the brave men who had hastened from 
 the great Colonies to help the Mother Country in her 
 need. Many of these she knew ; all were in a peculiar 
 sense her servants ; their death was something like a 
 personal loss to her. And still, fighting against grow- 
 ing weakness, she went on with the work of the state, 
 adding to it the self-imposed duty of visiting the sick 
 and wounded when they were brought back to these 
 shores. 
 
 On January 22, 1 90 1, the Queen died, having lived 
 just three days longer than the longest-lived of her 
 predecessors, George III. Never in the history of the 
 
676 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 world, we may safely say, did the death of a ruler 
 bring with it a wider and a deeper sorrow, for never 
 had ruler been so loved and trusted. It must be 
 remembered also how great was the extent of her 
 Empire, so that this loss touched not less than three 
 hundred millions of people, a fourth, it may be 
 reckoned, of the whole human race. Nor did the 
 news take, as it would have taken half a century 
 before, weeks, or even months to travel to distant 
 regions. It was flashed by the telegraph wires in a 
 few minutes, or at most hours, to almost every part of 
 the Empire. The mourning for Queen Victoria was 
 indeed a great mourning. 
 
 And the funeral was a great solemnity. The Queen 
 had died at her palace at Osborne in the Isle of 
 Wight. On February i the coffin was taken from 
 Osborne to Cowes, and from Cowes the Royal yacht, 
 Alberta, transported it to Gosport. All the warships 
 within reach had been gathered to this neighbourhood 
 and ranged in two lines. As the Alberta passed 
 between them they fired a salute, the last honour 
 which they were to render to " Her Majesty." The 
 remains rested for that night at Gosport ; the next 
 day they were brought to London, and conveyed on 
 a gun-carriage between the two railway stations, 
 Victoria and Paddington, escorted by as complete a 
 representation of the British army as could be got 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VI L 677 
 
 together at the time. In point of numbers the 
 procession could not be very large, for the main 
 strength of our soldiers was elsewhere, but every arm 
 of the service was represented. This military funeral 
 was in strict obedience to the wishes of the Queen. 
 She had always had a special interest in the army. 
 It was a taste hereditary in her family. She herself 
 in the early days of her reign had loved to attend 
 reviews clad in a scarlet riding-habit. There was a 
 great following of ngtable mourners. Close behind 
 the coffin rode the new King, supported on one side 
 by the Duke of Connaught and on the other by the 
 Emperor of Germany. The Emperor showed himself 
 at his very best during this time of mourning. He 
 had hurried over from Germany at the news of his 
 grandmother's illness,had watched with evident sorrow 
 at her bedside, and had rendered all the service in his 
 power during the days that followed, days that were 
 as full of occupation as they were of sorrow. Behind 
 these three, the chief mourners of the day, followed 
 the Kings of Portugal and Greece, and representatives 
 of all the royal families in Europe. That night the 
 remains rested in St. George's Chapel at Windsor. 
 On the following Monday they were taken, privately 
 and without any pomp, to the Mausoleum at Frog- 
 more, and laid beside the coffin of the husband from 
 
678 STORIES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY. 
 
 whom the dead Queen had been parted nearly forty 
 years ^ before. 
 
 The interval between the Accession of King Edward 
 and the day appointed for his Coronation was un- 
 usually long. The Coronation is, of course, a great 
 festival, and cannot decently be celebrated during the 
 period of mourning. It is also a matter of con- 
 venience that it should take place in the summer, 
 when the days are long, and when fine weather may 
 reasonably be expected. Oueep Victoria herself had 
 been crowned on June 28, just eight days more than a 
 year after her accession. The day appointed for her 
 successor was the 25 th of the same month. Very 
 great preparations were made for the ceremony. 
 Westminster Abbey was fitted up for the reception of 
 an assembly more splendid, it may well be believed, 
 than any that had ever been gathered together on 
 such, one might almost say, on any occasion. The 
 peers and peeresses of the Kingdom, the judges, the 
 officers of State, representatives from all the great 
 towns were to have a place. With these were to be 
 representatives from the Colonies and of India, and 
 embassies from all the nations of the civilized world. 
 The streets of London were to be lined with troops, 
 while miles of seats had been erected for the accom- 
 ^ The Prince Consort died December 14, 1861. 
 
QUEEN VICTORIA AND KING EDWARD VI L 6'j<) 
 
 modation of spectators without number. And tlien, 
 only the day before that appointed for the ceremon)-, 
 it was announced that the King was too ill to be 
 present, and a few hours later the startling news that 
 he had to undergo a dangerous operation. Seldom 
 has a nation passed more quickly from glad expecta- 
 tion to anxious fear. Happily all went better than 
 the most sanguine had dared to hope. The operation 
 was successfully performed. The King recovered with 
 quite unusual rapidity, and the ceremony of Corona- 
 tion was performed, with diminished splendour indeed, 
 but in the midst of the most sincere thankfulness on 
 the part of the nation, on August 9, 1902 
 
 Richard Clay ^^ So/is, Limited^ London &^ Bnnsay,